The unexpected friendship of Winona Ryder and Marc Jacobs
How kleptomania and a controversial trial birthed one of fashion's most iconic pairings
In June 2022, Winona Ryder made waves on social media as the face of Marc Jacobs’ J Marc Shoulder Bag campaign. But to the fashion-focused and chronically online, this campaign’s lore runs deeper than a mere collaboration.
The designer and actor’s friendship spawned from one of the biggest celebrity controversies of the early 2000s— Ryder’s shoplifting arrest in 2001.
Prior to the incident, she was known for her impressive portfolio of acting roles. From her breakout as the “strange and unusual” Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice, to her Oscar-nominated performances in Little Women and The Age of Innocence, Ryder became a mainstay in Hollywood.
That all changed in December 2001, when Ryder was arrested for shoplifting $5,560 worth of clothing and accessories from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, California.
A six-day trial found her guilty of aggravated theft and vandalism, and she was sentenced to a three-year probation with 480 hours of community service. The conviction brought copious levels of media attention, and the actress subsequently took a hiatus from acting.
“I think I just checked out,” she told Esquire magazine. “There was a period when I was not in season. Psychologically, I must have been at a place where I just wanted to stop.”
But among the expensive stolen merchandise that stained her career, a few objects carried a silver lining — a $760 cashmere sweater, a retro-inspired dress and a pair of Mary Jane’s, all designed by Marc Jacobs.
After the arrest, Ryder wasn’t ready to part ways with designer brands. Rather, she made an effort to show up to her court dates dressed to the nines in chic expensive clothing.
Prior to the trial her style was notably androgenous and casual, so it comes as no surprise the paparazzi photos of the actress dressed in delicate, feminine pieces became beacons of taste in the fashion world.
This caught the eye of Marc Jacobs, who proposed a collaboration after seeing her wear his pieces to court.
“I asked Winona because I thought she looked beautiful in all those pictures we’ve seen recently, regardless of the fact that they were taken during a trial,” Jacobs told Hello! magazine in 2003.
The trial was a goldmine for the tabloids, spotlighting the ever-critical public eye on herself and her actions. In face of insurmountable scrutiny, Jacob’s invitation to pose for the brand was a welcome one.
She sent the designer a bouquet of flowers with a note reading, “I’m so happy you asked me. It is a great honor.”
The resulting campaign was a tongue-in-cheek collection of photos intentionally depicting Ryder to reference her shoplifting scandal.
In one image she happily displays a cream button-up sweater with a bag full of clothing at her feet and a pair of scissors at her side. In another, she stares directly into the lens clutching a white high-heeled shoe, invoking imagery of a high-fashion mugshot. Juergen Teller’s radical style of photography highlights her petite frame and doe-eyed allure among the liminal background of hotel room drabness and clutter.
Jacobs and Ryder have since gone on to work on multiple campaigns together, including the launch of Marc Jacobs Beauty in 2015, with no signs of stopping. If their friendship’s controversial beginnings show us anything, it’s that they are in it for the long haul.