Theaters dust off spider webs and come to life, the streets of midtown Manhattan come alive, Bruce Springsteen is back on Broadway. And last week, the fashion world came together to join another New York staple, designer Marc Jacobs, and celebrate the return of the runway shows live.

“Through the physical nature of this shared experience, I hope to provide a moment of inspiration, curiosity, wonder and possibility,” wrote Jacobs in the program notes of his fall collection, a breathtaking parade of op-art inspired and scintillating puffs. space-age glitter, held under the grand arches of the main branch of the New York Public Library.

Jacobs, whose inventive catwalks typically close New York Fashion Week with a burst of creative energy, has chosen not to wait for the next edition, which returns in September; he decided to launch this, his first collection after skipping two seasons during the pandemic, in the heat of a Manhattan summer. On a sweltering evening, he delighted fans and passers-by: the show was simultaneously screened on the facade of Bergdorf Goodman, the luxury department store about 15 blocks from Fifth Avenue, where the collection will be sold in exclusivity.

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The clothes themselves were an alluring mix of quilted jackets and wavy striped coats of black and white, some sliding across the floor like glamorous ball gowns on a ski slope, and huge round shiny sequins sporting long dresses and skirts, sometimes with pants underneath. It was as if the winter wonderland met a glitzy red carpet, with a refueling stop in another galaxy.

Models, which included Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber, often wore knit hoods or brimmed caps, with braids protruding from the back. And they were wearing chunky black platform shoes, one of which fell off its owner at the start of the show. (An ingenious model finally gave him a good kick to the side of the track.)

The bouffant theme became wildly inventive, with puff collars to wrap around the neck (and reach the ear), or puff stoles to wrap around the shoulders. The show ended with a series of brightly colored clothes in orange, pink, purple or sunny yellow. You could imagine they were a nod to the mood of the creator: his program notes began with the word “Happiness”.

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“On the way back to doing what we love most, following immeasurable loss, loneliness, fear, anxiety and uncertainty, I remember why creativity is so vital for our existence, for life, ”wrote Jacobs.

He explained that his company’s decision to skip pandemic seasons, when many labels featured digital presentations, “allowed us to slow down, think, ruminate, reassess, mourn, and take a full inventory of this. which works, what doesn’t, what we love, what we are willing to give up and what has value, importance and meaning.

What works, Jacobs said, are in-person shows. “As the world continues to change at an unimaginable rate, my love for fashion, the desire to create and share collections through this delivery system, the runway, endures,” he wrote.

Some of the outfits were so shamelessly voluminous that they brushed the feet of the spectators, a vital sign if ever there was one, that it was real, not a digital presentation.