While Sofia Coppola is best known for a filmmaking style involving hazy cinematography and strong needle drops, she is just as well known for her taste in fashion. Reaching a peak with her film “The Bling Ring,” which centers around a group of designer fashion thieves, Coppola has become a fashion icon in the film space.
In the last three decades since becoming a filmmaker, Coppola has also become friends with many fashion designers within the industry. From Matthieu Blazy to Karl Lagerfeld, she has been dressed by many legends, but by far, her closest fashion friend is none other than Marc Jacobs.
Having accepted her Academy Award for Best Screenplay in a custom Marc Jacobs dress, her friendship with the experimental designer has blossomed greatly over the years. Appearing in photoshoots shot by Jacobs like his infamous “Sofia by Marc,” the two have been a duo for quite some time.
In this way, Coppola turning the lens back on to Jacobs after many years seems like an inevitable choice. However, that inevitably, and comfort between the two as friends, turns out to be the film’s greatest hindrance.
While the style of Sofia Coppola’s films have been attacked in the past for things like historical inaccuracy and a lack of diverse representation, an issue to many is also the lack of depth she tends to go into with characters in her films. While this has varying to degrees of success, working in her favor on films like “The Virgin Suicides,” which focus strongly on themes of perception and identity, it can be occasionally lackluster for many. And “Marc by Sofia” is no different.
It comes across well that Marc Jacobs is a fascinating figure in the world of fashion. The film cuts back and forth between Jacobs working on a 2024 collection and clips from his past collections, showing many of the unique dresses and bags he became known for. With many recognizable actresses and models, it’s clear Jacobs is a popular designer.
The film touches on many of Jacobs’s biggest moments. From his grunge collection at Perry Ellis to working as the first Ready to Wear designer at Louis Vuitton, Coppola shows everything. Even exploring some of the most scandalous moments of his career like dressing Courtney Love and Winona Ryder for their court trials.
While the film is great for people who already have an idea about the designs of Marc Jacobs, the music of Sonic Youth, or the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, it is not exactly accessible to those who do not instantly recognize the names “Kim Gordon” or “Bob Fosse.”
Additionally, while Coppola and Jacobs both come across as sweet likable people, mileage will vary for how enjoyable it is to listen to two very rich and privileged artists talk about how great each other are. Coppola’s talking has a valley-girl quality to it which can definitely appear grating to some.
But none of this detracts from the strongest moments of the film. For fans of the fashion world, watching Jacobs design as a fly on the wall is deeply informative. Understanding where his references come from, how he picks fabrics and his sampling process are deeply fascinating moments.
From Barbara Streissand to Liza Minnelli, the film intercuts many moments from movies that have inspired his collections. While it’s not clear where each clip comes from, the documentary takes on a multi-media quality as it switches between the digital photography of her interviewing Jacobs, 35-millimeter film photography from old movies and DVR video from archival media. For all of its downfalls, it is still mostly a great time.
Verdict: In the end, what is ultimately apparent is that unlike her father Francis Ford Coppola who’s known for his great hubris and overly-ambitious projects, what has made Sofia Coppola such a strong voice in the film world is her effortless attitude. There are no drawn out long-take sequences, scrapped-together set-pieces, extreme performances or avant-garde cutting techniques in her movies. Instead they all have a cool nonchalant quality to them like a musician who rocks sunglasses indoors. But sometimes this nonchalance comes across as lazy. And that certainly is the case with “Marc by Sofia.”
