When we saw Marc Jacobs at the Costume Institute gala on Monday, we didn't quite get his new Paul Bunyan look. We'd seen people like Josh Hartnett do the scruffy lumberjack thing at swanky parties but wouldn't have expected it from Jacobs, who has kept his facial hair close-cropped for some time now. But this morning the New York Post offers an explanation:

"He spends most of his time partying until morning in Paris," a friend said. "It's out of control. There's always a different boy and everyone is worried he's going to pull a Halston" — referring to the legendary designer whose work suffered due to drinking and drugs. Halston died of AIDS in 1990. Jacobs, since breaking up with his former rent-boy boyfriend Jason Preston, has been linked with porn star Erik Rhodes, boy toy Austin A. and now the new mystery man.

So perhaps he's too party-pooped to shave these days? The Post also reports Jacobs brought the above-mentioned mystery man to Monday's gala, where he showed up "two hours late," though we did see him on the carpet with Helena Christensen and Sofia Coppola — and they were perfectly punctual. So he had another dude on his arm — player-hating aside, isn't it really a matter of whether Jacobs, who's been in and out of rehab, is staying away from the bottle and the like? At least Anna still has faith in the guy. She's reportedly honoring him at the ball next year.

MERRY MARC WORRIES PALS [NYP]