Margiela and Marc Jacobs launch pioneering websites

So it's perhaps no surprise that Martin Margiela and Marc Jacobs were going to play with the e-commerce format a little when they launched their new sites.

The former is set to unveil a new fully transactional site on October 1, complete with retro MS-DOS font, and a design which reinterprets and inverts his old website, exchanging black for white and vice versa. The site will be powered by e-tail giant Yoox, and the company's founder Federico Marchetti described the redeveloped site as "the most visible store in the world for the most invisible designer"

Meanwhile, over at Marc Jacobs, designs are in place for a site that straddles the functional world of efficient e-tail, and the more diverting elements of gaming and animation. Virtual sales assistants will be animated in Marc Jacobs outfits, presiding over a virtual shop environment with lots of illustrated, clickable products. Catwalk videos and lots of photography will sit with quirky animation, all rendered with lots of the humour we've come to expect from a designer who has been known to attend his own parties dressed as Wilbur the pig, and an enormous camel toe. The site will launch on Monday, September 27, with a range of Marc Jacobs, and Marc by Marc Jacobs products.

Both sites are designed for mobile use, and with ease of purchase in mind; meaning that the e-commerce experience over at Marc Jacobs and Maison Martin Margiela will be grounded in substance, as well as style.