It’s been a rough week. So, some much-needed respite via the annual Marc Jacobs dress code – the John Lewis Christmas advert of the fashion industry. To celebrate the launch of his resort collection, the American designer is having a bash. And, as per, it involves a dress code whose gnomic screed – currently doing the rounds on social media – is always fun to dissect, especially in the current mood. Last year’s was inspired by excess and Studio 54, and suggested guests arrive by horse. This time, there’s a focus on the 1980s (like his collection).

Fashion-wise, it’s in the ether, but what else can we learn? Guests, it instructs, should reference Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, the “dynamite socialite” (or, possibly, the mail distribution company in Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 – neither end terribly well). “Big eyebrows” are decadent markers of a booming economy, as is big hair (Brooke Shields and Debbie Harry both get a mention). Heels are a must, or rather “vertiginous pumps like you’re sitting pretty for your Andy portrait”, a spirited nod, perhaps, to the cult of celebrity. Equally, dressing like a princess, be it one from Monaco or “a punk princess”, is recommended. Meanwhile, TED-talk buzzwords such as “success” and “fame” read like a Trumpian diktat.

Except, capitalist frenzy this is not. Jacobs, an out-and-out Democrat, also floats the word “paradise”, which may be a tribute to the famous New York club, Paradise Garage. Until it closed in 1987, Paradise Garage was precisely that: a parking garage on 84 King Street in Manhattan. Culturally, however, its clout was huge, as it was one of the few clubs in New York that the gay African-American and Latino community could call their own. There was no alcohol licence, so it could stay open after-hours, and it wasn’t open to the general public. Refuge is a little extreme, but people certainly came to Paradise to dance without prejudice. The Marc Jacobs party, perhaps, offers more of the same: “No posers,” warns the dress code, “and definitely no preppies.” Hairspray, on the other hand, appears to be non-negotiable.

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