What differentiates a good designer from a fashion genius?

The good designer makes great clothes, and we need great clothes in fashion.

The genius brings something else to our industry: a unique point of view, a context to clothes that responds to the lifestyle they exist in and the shifting cultural paradigms steering that lifestyle.

Twenty-five years ago, Marc Jacobs did just that when he rocked the fashion world – then still in the throes of supermodel glamour – with his spring 1993 grunge collection for Perry Ellis. Think sheer slip dresses, cropped suits, lots of layering and not a high heel in sight (the preferred footwear of choice were Doc Martens). The models – Kate Moss, Helena Christensen, Kristen McMenamy, and Nadja Auermann among them – were styled to look natural, perhaps even a little disheveled, disrupting the beauty ideals of that era.

The lineup was tailor-made for that seminal cultural moment – a time when Winona Ryder was the poster child for Gen X, and Kurt Cobain was changing the type of music we were listening to with Nirvana. The collection was a testament to Jacobs’ cultural savvy and, needless to say, he was ahead of the fashion curve. The critics were harsh, and the judgment was swift. Jacobs was fired from Perry Ellis, but his vision endured. Yet grunge ultimately defined the Nineties and catapulted him from a great designer to genius. Jacobs made fashion history with grunge.

Grunge never truly left Jacobs – riffs of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit have made it into at least one of his past fashion shows – and we just love that he is now reintroducing the collection at a time when the look feels more right than ever.

Appropriately named the Redux Grunge Collection, Jacobs resurrected 26 key looks down to a tee – offering the full ready-to-wear, jewelry, shoes, and accessories in their original prints, fabrics, and embroideries.

The campaign, shot by Juergen Teller with models including Gigi Hadid and Dree Hemingway, will begin appearing in December magazines and on select digital outlets.

“The ‘Grunge’ collection epitomized the first time in my professional career I was unwavering in my determination to see my vision come to life on the runway, without creative compromise,” Jacobs said.

The collection will be available starting this Thursday at marcjacobs.com, select department stores and Marc Jacobs boutiques worldwide. We also can’t wait for the special grunge pop-up shop opening on Madison Avenue on Monday.

The collection’s ongoing appeal just proves that it pays to follow to your unwavering vision.