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Fashion designer Marc Jacobs said in a new interview that he’d be open to styling the confessed assassin Luigi Mangione at trial — and that the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is doing a fine job as a “trendsetter” while dressing himself already.
In a sitdown with Vanity Fair’s Lie Detector Test podcast, the host noted that celebrities including Winona Rider, Courtney Love and Lil’ Kim had all worn Jacobs’ designs in court in the early 2000s. Then she slid him a photo of Mangione and asked, “Would you be open to styling this person for his trial?”
Jacobs, wearing a black Lacoste shirt, laughed as he looked at the photo, then replied, “Um… yes.”
LUIGI MANGIONE’S NEW YORK MURDER TRIAL ADJOURNED UNTIL DECEMBER OVER DOUBLE JEOPARDY CONCERNS
“I think he looks pretty good the way he dresses, actually,” the designer said.
Trial fashion can draw a lot of attention, going back to OJ Simpson’s so-called trial of the century in the mid-1990s, which was televised and involved the most famous American ever charged with murder at the time.
Donna Rotunno, a criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor, said the media’s treatment of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark during Simpson’s trial influenced her courtroom style choices when she represented Harvey Weinstein. Still, she said, she was disappointed to see public support for an admitted killer like Mangione.
“I find it sad,” she said in an interview Thursday. “I find that sad that a designer would in any way, shape or form want to support that.”
Mangione has admitted to stalking Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, from Minnesota to New York City, where he shot him in the back on Dec. 4, 2024.
His fashion choices have made headlines ever since — beginning with the high-end backpack he allegedly ditched in Central Park while fleeing the crime scene. In March 2025, he showed up in the courtroom wearing Rockport loafers and no socks — a detail that a photographer captured in a picture showing shackles around his bare ankles.
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Later, prosecutors revealed that someone had slipped Mangione a pair of heart-shaped notes hidden within a pair of socks sent to the court along with other clothes he wore for the hearing. (Only one of the notes was addressed to Mangoine — the other was meant for someone named “Joan.”)
“He’s kind of become a character and this cult hero to some people, and it’s pretty sad to see,” Rotunno said.
A court officer seized the notes but allowed Mangione to wear the socks. However, “he felt that ‘they did not look good’” and took them off, according to prosecutors.
Mangione, however, may end up wearing a jail jumpsuit for the rest of his life after he pleaded guilty to federal charges last week. As a result, his state case may come to an end without trial if his defense team’s double jeopardy claim succeeds in court.
He faces a maximum punishment of life in prison at his sentencing on Dec. 18, but it’s up to Judge Margaret Garnett. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend around 25 to 30 years, and Garnett is not bound by those either.
“So the fact that you would have any designer coming out saying that he would dress him or be happy to dress him, I think is pretty tone deaf,” Rotunno said.
If he does end up having a state trial, it could be the last time he’s seen wearing street clothes, she said. But even so, she urged his defense team to walk a fine line.
“I also think you have to be careful in front of juries,” she said. “You dress up Luigi Mangione too much, and maybe he loses some of the sympathy that people have for him.”
Jacobs was hooked up to a lie detector test during his podcast interview.
The host noted that after Mangione wore a red sweater in court, it sold out at Nordstrom stores. “Does this make him a trendsetter?”
“Yes,” Jacobs agreed.
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Then she asked if he was offended that Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t wear any of his designs at her own eight-day trial in 2023, after a retired optometrist unsuccessfully sued her over a ski crash in Park City, Utah.
“No,” he said.
“He’s being truthful,” the polygrapher added.
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A spokesperson for Jacobs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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