Heaven’s art director Ava Nirui told Vogue UK: “[I wanted to] keep re-energising the brand and create a sense of community because I feel like that’s what was so unique about Marc Jacobs in the 90s.”

Fans are surely rejoicing now that there’s a new collaboration with a Hong Kong creative – and none other than the legendary filmmaker himself. But not everyone is happy about the project. Let’s take a closer look at what it’s all about …

Heaven by Marc Jacobs pays tribute to Wong Kar-wai’s most iconic films

Wong, born in 1956, is a second-wave Hong Kong filmmaker known internationally for his visually unique, highly stylised and emotionally resonant works. He became the first Chinese director to win the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

The film that won Wong the award, Happy Together, is one of the inspirations of this new collaboration. Heaven by Marc Jacobs chose Happy Together and Fallen Angels as jumping off points for necklaces and body chains.

At the same time, images from Fallen Angels are printed on a cropped hoodie and a knit vest, while scenes from the film are pieced together into a print on a mesh long-sleeved top. A jumper and zip hoodie are printed with the famous quote “love you for 10,000 years” from his film Chungking Express.

There are also T-shirts and crewnecks designed with the title Fallen Angels, as well as T-shirts, skirts and dresses decorated with sequins and the neon-lit streets of the classic Hong Kong scene.

The whole collection is like a realistic reproduction of the film scenes, opined digital fashion media outlet Nowre.

Y2K style is on the rise

Although Wong’s masterpieces were released at the turn of the century, they are still very popular among audiences today.

In that period of transition between old and new, the environment was accompanied by the rapid development of technology, which immediately gave rise to complex emotions of anticipation for the future and anxiety about the unknown. This complex emotion has led the fashion industry to create flashy, eye-catching designs, which became the chaotic yet flamboyant Y2K style.

Yay or nay?

Although Y2K style is on the rise recently and the collaboration was highly anticipated by fans, when Heaven officially released it, the main response seemed to be negative rather than enthusiastic.

Instagram user @quinn.is.young left a comment under an official Heaven post, “How do you take like some of the most gorgeous source material ever and make something so weak and lazy to sell for hundreds,” that received almost 1,000 likes.

In addition to the simple designs, there are others complaining that the pricing is too expensive. Another user @kylefletcher820 wrote, “Wong Kar-wai wouldn’t want that jumper to be US$325,” mocking the prices of the clothes.

That said, there are those who like the designs too. Twitter user @m4rzbars mentioned that she thinks the sequinned skirts and dresses are “cute” while another, @QuinnifersBody, backed her by declaring, “People don’t know what fashion is.” Not to mention the official website shows that several items are already out of stock in some sizes.