It’s that time of the year again when Heaven by Marc Jacobs releases a new collection with a new collaboration. This time it’s Deftones, Anna Sui and, my personal favorite, Stray Rats. Heaven was first launched in September of 2020 and was made for the Generation Z, Y2K-obsessed community. They reveal a collection/campaign almost every month of the year. The most recent release is a delightful homage to Generation X and their love for early 2000s metal music.

This collection keeps the same color palette that filled the early 2000s metal music scene. Muted orange, black, gray, red and silver were on all the items. Model and singer Gabbriette Bechtel is featured in the collection, making this her second Heaven campaign. Bechtel’s thin eyebrows and eyebrow piercings perfectly capture the aesthetic and scream, “I’ve been listening to Deftones for decades!” 

The Star-Studded Collaborators

Heaven is known for featuring many iconic celebrities in its collections to increase its appeal to Generation Z. Previous collections centered around Kate Moss, Pamela Anderson and even Michael Imperioli from “The Sopranos” and “White Lotus.” This time, Deftones’ frontman Chino Moreno was photographed wearing pieces from this collection. 

Although Stray Rats has collaborated with Heaven in the past, Deftones was a surprising collaboration. However, Heaven didn’t stop there. Heaven and Deftones held a concert on March 2 in Brooklyn at the Williamsburg Music Hall and invited past-generation fans to come together to enjoy Deftones once again. The concert was free, courtesy of Deftones. 

Heaven did this pretty well at first, but lately has taken it to such a level that just makes the brand less attractive as time goes on.

Deftones making a huge pop culture comeback was not on my 2023 bingo card. Tons of young people took to the internet to start posting their excitement and anticipation for this Y2K metal comeback. The revival has quite literally destroyed the internet, with good and bad feelings about this collaboration.

An infamous designer who changed both Generations X and Z, Sui added a controversial cherry on top for this collection. Her contribution to this collection reflected her fashion: fairy wings. The fairy wings were reimagined from Sui’s Spring/Summer 1997 collection and are being sold for almost $600, in multiple colors that accompany this collection perfectly. 

Stray Rats never disappoint, especially when collaborating with Heaven. They always give us great designs and always make me feel as if I am truly in 2003 when it comes to fashion. However, I felt that they deserved more from this collection. I would have liked to see more tops and maybe even bottoms from Stray Rats, considering we only got one top from the designer. I would have loved to see some baggy jeans that resembled Stray Rats’ street style. They were lacking in this collection when Heaven needed them. 

The Collection Itself, Unfiltered

The collection was popular on social media but overall left a bad taste in my mouth. Some of the clothing items looked cheap and poorly put together. It felt like Heaven was trying really hard to market to two different generations in a poor manner. The ironic thing is that this collection was tremendously expensive for the low quality  — you can find something similar to Anna Sui’s $600 plastic fairy wings at Party City for a much better price. 

The hoodies were probably my least favorite part of this collection. I miss the colorful graphic hoodies that didn’t look so cheap. The past hoodies clearly had great detailing that felt new or well designed. However, the new hoodies look randomly put together and tacky. 

The only good items from this collection were the Stray Rats baby tee and a raglan tee that had the name “Deftones” plastered on the front of the shirt. Even the jewelry was a letdown. The safety pin earrings looked very disorganized and were incredibly expensive. A mohair double-layer sweater was priced at $295, and a zip up hoodie cost $195. 

I also disliked the fact that this collection used fewer plus-size models despite earlier campaigns including people with diverse body types. It’s a shame that Heaven resorted to skinnier models for a rock metal collection, especially since a lot of fashion in the early 2000s was only portrayed on thinner people. Heaven had the chance to do things differently and get on the good side of the younger generation but decided to trash it. 

Heaven’s previous collections had more fun and originality as well as designs that were much more affordable and accessible. It felt as if anyone could be part of the Heaven community. At first, the clothing was marketed as a genderless clothing brand, but it doesn’t feel that way anymore. This collection felt like it was all over the place. It has become more inaccessible than any other campaign so far. Heaven may have good marketing, but not this time. Heaven was not able to be what it wanted to be.

Dangers of Aggressive Marketing

It also felt as if this collection was being harshly marketed. I get it, I’ve listened to Deftones and I love the Y2K style, but I don’t need every Y2K/pop-culture reference shoved in my face to make me buy something. The past collections felt as if they were being marketed to niche communities, while the marketing for this collection was too aggressive. This type of marketing strategy feels dangerous and shady because of how expensive the product is and how aggressively it’s catered toward the younger generation. 

Lately, many brands have been trying to aggressively market to niche youth communities, including the brand Praying, which rose to fame by using Generation Z phrases, language and culture to market the brand. In fact, one of Praying’s most famous pieces is a bag brandishing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with their ship name, Brangelina, along with the year they got together and the year their relationship ended. The bag broke the internet when celebrities such as Olivia Rodrigo and Lisa from Blackpink began wearing the brand.

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This type of marketing strategy that uses celebrities and internet and pop-culture events keeps young people hooked because brands such as Stray Rats and Heaven have used popular celebrities like Charli XCX and Doja Cat to market their fall collection. It left almost every young adult in awe. Heaven continues to use this strategy, and although it’s intelligent, it feels neurotic. 

It is marketing such as this that makes these brands very interesting and desirable. By appealing to the younger generation through pop-culture and language, they rise to fame without getting a second look. Heaven did this pretty well at first, but lately has taken it to such a level that just makes the brand less attractive as time goes on. 

Heaven once had my heart and even compelled me to purchase a top, but now it feels like an imitation. Heaven may not be so heavenly anymore, but I still have hope that the brand will redeem itself and make me fall in love with its pieces again. I also hope Heaven drops the way it markets its collections because it doesn’t feel as if the brand knows its audience anymore.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled the name of Deftones’ frontman. As of April 26, this article has been updated to reflect that the correct spelling of the frontman’s name is Chino Moreno.