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Photo Pru Sowers
Robert Duffy, president of Marc Jacobs, Inc., has taken center stage, a decidedly uncomfortable position, with the opening of a new store and a new direction for his philanthropy. |
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Robert Duffy, couture company exec, steps from shadows
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN – When Robert Duffy, president of Marc Jacobs, Inc., the fashion design house, took center stage at a glamorous dinner party two weeks ago to present a check for $340,000 to Provincetown Art Association and Museum executive director Chris McCarthy, it was a culmination and a contradiction.
It was the culmination of years of charitable giving — some estimate in the millions of dollars — to several local causes and institutions, including PAAM and the Provincetown Library. But it was a contradiction because Duffy, the dapper 53-year-old co-founder of the high-end couture company, had been giving very anonymously. Up until a few weeks ago, Duffy kept a low profile and was known chiefly for annoying his neighbors in the West End with construction on his new house.
But much changed with the opening of Marc by Marc Jacobs, a new store selling Jacob’s lower-end clothing and accessories, located across the street from Bubula’s by the Bay. Even the store itself is a conflict, with some saying it will inject new life into Provincetown by attracting other high-end stores – and their customers – here, while others argue it will open the door to a bevy of chain stores that will dilute Provincetown’s unique character.
Duffy himself is conflicted over whether Marc by Marc Jacobs will lift the town’s economic fortunes.
“We are a brand,” he noted, sitting on the sidewalk outside of the store the day before it opened. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. If it opens up the floodgates for stores to be open year-round, it’s a good thing.”
What most people don’t realize is that Duffy has a long history with Provincetown and Cape Cod. His family rented a house in Truro every summer when he was growing up and Duffy worked summers at a variety of Provincetown stores, guesthouses and bars while he was in college. He took drawing classes at PAAM, which is one of the reasons he supports the art association, which named a museum gallery after his parents to honor his financial contributions.
“I really learned about art and color and proportion as a kid [at the PAAM classes]. That’s how I got into design. I learned most of it here,” he said.
Duffy decided to open a Marc Jacobs store in Provincetown because he spends so much time here and because he wants to support the town, even though the store has required him to be more visible than he normally likes. His normal method of operation is to offer support anonymously, like he did when he paid for the reading room and lobby renovations of the new Provincetown Library, naming them after friends. And he may be hoping to get back to that lower level of publicity once the buzz over the new store and the opening party, attended by approximately 200 at a sit-down dinner at PAAM, dies down.
“I don’t come here to have a lot of attention focused on me. I’m used to having attention focused on me in New York and Paris. But you don’t like to see your name on a wall where you come to get away,” Duffy said.
Over half of the attendees at the PAAM dinner were young sales staff from Marc by Marc Jacobs stores across the country. Duffy wanted them to come so they would understand and appreciate the local causes he insists they become involved in through the t-shirts for PAAM, the library and other local institutions that are sold in many of the 120 “Marc” stores around the world.
“This town has been my heart and soul. I have a cemetery plot here,” he said. “I’m just so proud of the heritage this town has.”
psowers@provincetownbanner.com
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May 17th, 2007