Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963, Manhattan, New York, U.S.) is an American fashion designer known for translating youth subcultures, music, street style, and other elements of popular culture into luxury fashion. He first attracted attention with his spring 1993 grunge collection for Perry Ellis, bringing the layered, deliberately disheveled look associated with the Pacific Northwest music scene to the runway. Jacobs later extended his influence through his own label and during his tenure as creative director of Louis Vuitton from 1997 to 2013.

Early life and education

Jacobs was raised with his brother and sister in New York City, where his parents were employed at the William Morris talent agency. When Jacobs was seven years old, his father died. His mother subsequently remarried and divorced several times, each requiring the family to relocate. When Jacobs was a teenager, he went to live on Manhattan’s Upper West Side with his paternal grandmother, who, having taught him as a child how to knit, encouraged his growing interest in fashion design. By age 15 he had enrolled in the High School of Art and Design and was working at the upscale clothing boutique Charivari, where he met the fashion designer Perry Ellis, who became his mentor.

In 1981 Jacobs enrolled at Parsons School of Design (now part of the New School). For his graduation project, he designed a collection of oversize hand-knit sweaters, which earned him some of the school’s highest honors. He subsequently sold the collection to Charivari. The collection was marketed with the aid of executive vice president Barbara Weiser as Marc and Barbara and received positive reviews.

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Early career and first label

After graduating in 1984, Jacobs was hired by the clothing manufacturer Reuben Thomas, Inc., for which he designed the Sketchbook label (1984–85). In the same year, with company executive Robert Duffy, he launched Jacobs Duffy Designs Inc. Jacobs thereafter secured the financial backing to design under his own label (1986–88), for which he became the youngest designer to win the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent (1987)—one of the industry’s highest honors.

Perry Ellis and the grunge collection

In 1988 Jacobs was named vice president of women’s design at Perry Ellis, where he gained international recognition for his revolutionary “grunge” collection, which he debuted in 1992. Inspired by the emerging grunge music scene, the collection featured unorthodox combinations—such as flowered girlish dresses paired with combat boots—to achieve a disheveled and individualistic look. The designs were shown by waifish models, including Kate Moss—the antithesis to the glamorous and curvaceous models then in vogue. Jacobs was christened the “guru of grunge” by Women’s Wear Daily and named CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year (1992) largely because of the monumental collection, which ushered in the grunge look of the 1990s. Jacobs’s employment with Perry Ellis, however, was promptly terminated—a decision believed by many industry professionals to have been a result of his radical departure from the brand’s traditionally clean-cut image.

Marc Jacobs International and joining Louis Vuitton

In 1993 Jacobs Duffy Designs Inc. created its own design and licensing company, Marc Jacobs International Company, LP, thereafter relaunching Jacobs’s signature brand, which debuted a line of menswear the following year. In 1997 Jacobs opened the first of his many boutiques and—in exchange for the financial support of his fashion house—signed on as creative director for Louis Vuitton, where he revitalized the brand, designing its first line of ready-to-wear clothing and expanding its accessories line.

Marc by Marc Jacobs and highlights of Louis Vuitton

With the financial backing of LVMH, Louis Vuitton’s parent company, Jacobs was able to expand his signature brand. He launched a more affordable line of sportswear, Marc by Marc Jacobs (2001), and a line of children’s wear, Little Marc Jacobs (2005). At Louis Vuitton, he brought his interest in contemporary art to the brand by collaborating with American fashion designer and artist Stephen Sprouse, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, and American artist Richard Prince to launch a series of popular handbags. These included the Speedy Graffiti (2001) by Sprouse, which looked as if it had been spray-painted with the company’s name; the critically acclaimed Louis Vuitton Eye Love Monogram collection (2003) by Murakami, which replaced the brand’s traditional beige-and-brown monogrammed canvas with a multicolored palette featuring pop-art graphics, such as cartoon eyes; and Motard Firebird (2008) with Prince, which reinterpreted the classic monogram pattern with multicolored quilted satin and suede.

Business challenges and restructuring

In 2013 Jacobs stepped down as creative director of Louis Vuitton in order to concentrate on his own line. That year he launched the makeup brand Marc Jacobs Beauty. In 2015, however, signs that his fashion empire was struggling appeared, including the closure of the popular Marc by Marc Jacobs line—though lower-priced attire was added to his signature collection—and the departure of Duffy. In addition, a number of retail stores were closed amid layoffs and additional upper-management turnover.

A gradual turnaround began under Eric Marechalle—formerly of Kenzo, another fashion house in the LVMH portfolio—who became chief executive of Marc Jacobs International in 2017. Jacobs continued to present experimental runway collections, while new product lines sought to reach a wider market. The Marc Jacobs, a line introduced in 2019, offered ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, jewelry, and accessories, including The Tote Bag, which became one of the label’s most recognizable products. In 2020 the company launched Heaven, a lower-priced line that drew on grunge, early 2000s fashion, and alternative popular culture.

Sale of the brand

The changes coincided with improved financial results. LVMH reported that Marc Jacobs gained market share and reached record levels of revenue and profit in 2023. Three years later, however, it agreed to sell its majority stake in the brand to the management company WHP Global, the parent company of such brands as Toys “R” Us, Vera Wang, and Rag & Bone, in partnership with the apparel company G-III, owner of the fashion labels Donna Karan, Karl Lagerfeld, and Wilsons Leather. Under the proposed arrangement, Jacobs was expected to remain founder and creative director and to continue overseeing the label’s designs and runway collections.