The Story Behind All Those White Chairs at the Marc Jacobs Show

Stefan Beckman, the man behind Marc Jacobs's set designs, sourced many decades of chairs for the NYFW show
A model walks by an array of diverse chairs assembled to seat Jacobs's guests.
A model walks by an array of diverse chairs assembled to seat Jacobs's guests.Photo: Peter White / Getty Images

Each season, Marc Jacobs closes out New York Fashion Week with his evening presentation. Fashion editors jet off almost immediately afterward to London Fashion Week, but Jacobs's visionary ideas tend to linger. The same could be said of his set designs, which are wrangled, executed, and brought to life by Stefan Beckman—a product designer and creative director with his own namesake firm. At last night's Marc Jacobs Spring 2020 ready-to-wear show in the fashion designer's favored venue, the Park Avenue Armory, Beckman's eclectic mix of white chairs caught the eyes of design buffs. AD PRO called Beckman up to find out how exactly he made this scene come to life.

AD PRO: Where did you find all the chairs?

Stefan Beckman: In upstate New York, at flea markets, in New Jersey, in Long Island…kind of everywhere in the tristate area. Many were white, but others we refurbished and painted. They all have different personalities, which was important to the show. There were modern classics, rattans, Bertoias, Eames chairs, rocking chairs, cheap plastic chairs—it was a mix of high and low.

AD PRO: Why white?

SB: It gave it an abstractness. It unified the pieces as an installation.

AD PRO: How did you get them all there?

SB: I had everyone from my studio go shopping over the weekend. We had different vans. We were texting each other back and forth to see if we liked different things. That's the most fun part of going flea market shopping.

A view of atmosphere during rehearsal of the Marc Jacobs Spring 2020 runway show.

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Marc Jacobs

AD PRO: So you did all this just this past weekend?

SB: Yep, starting at the end of last week. It seemed like a really easy idea at first, and then I was like, Oh, my God, we have to hit the ground running. We found Elephant's Trunk Flea Market in Connecticut, which was amazing. We were just accumulating all these things, and then taking them to spray-paint booths or reupholstering them.

AD PRO: What was the most unusual chair in the group?

SB: There was a flower chair that Marc really liked. We found really cool wooden ones from the '50s and some really weird '80s ones. I think literally every decade from the late 1800s until today was represented.

AD PRO: Was that on purpose?

SB: I definitely wanted a mix. I didn't want it to feel only modern or only old, but I think the white does make it feel contemporary.

AD PRO: What do you like about working with Marc?

SB: Every season is a different concept. Sometimes there are giant sets, and sometimes when you scale things back it can be just as beautiful. And the Armory is a great backdrop. They recently finished refurbishing the floors in this nice light wood.