Marc Jacobs is a phenomenon in the fashion industry. His popularity is primarily due to his fashion label and success as a creative artist at Louis Vuitton. You can feel his legacy in the French fashion houses and how he can utilize his creative and colorful eye for details to create luxury clothes and accessories. Since the beginning of Marc Jacobs history, he has been a fashion icon recognized for his trendsetting abilities. From being labeled the world’s most influential designer to becoming the creative director at Louis Vuitton for almost two decades, Marc Jacobs is a fashion icon. This article explores Marc Jacobs history from his humble beginning to his best collections and collaborations. So on that note, let’s get right into it. 

Marc Jacobs History: His Early Life

March Jacobs was born in 1963 in New York City. His life took a significant turn when he lost his father at the age of seven. His mother remarried and divorced multiple times and this led Jacobs and his siblings to move from one home to another every time his mother remarried. Therefore, Jacobs moved from New Jersey to Long Island and eventually ended up in the Bronx.

These events made Jacobs feel alienated from his mother and siblings, and he decided to move in with his paternal grandmother. He was only a teenager, and she lived on the Upper West Side. While living with his grandmother, he developed a love for fashion. She made him feel like he was truly at home. His paternal grandmother was well-traveled, and she was educated. She also loved aesthetically beautiful things and loved Jacobs’ creative design. Through this mutual love for creativity, Jacobs developed a close relationship with his grandmother. She was very supportive and allowed Jacobs to live permissive adolescence where he felt comfortable enough to explore. 

He never had to hear how things were wrong, nor did she tell him he was a boy and couldn’t be a fashion designer. Therefore, she was a significant influence in his life. She taught Jacobs how to knit and allowed him to attend the High School of Art and Design. 

Marc Jacobs History – Life After High School

After graduating from the High School of Art and Design, Jacobs enrolled at the Parsons School of Design. He was well recognized for his talents and received some of the highest awards offered by the school, including the Design Student of the Year award. It was while at Parsons that Jacobs began to design. He started by crafting and selling some hand-knitted sweaters. During a graduation dinner, Jacobs met Robert Duffy, who was quite impressed with Jacobs’ designs. At this point, a personal and professional relationship began with the duo.

After graduation, Jacobs decided to design his first collection and released it under his name. He won the New Fashion Talent award from the Council of Fashion Designer of America Perry Ellis Award the following year. He was recognized as the youngest designer ever to receive the award. His first company only lasted for two years before he quit to join Perry Ellis. Marc was the Vice President of Women’s Design for the company in 1989. Robert Duffy went with Jacobs and became the company’s president. In 1992, he received another award from the organization as the Designer of the Year. This award was for his famous ‘Grunge Collection’ at Perry Ellis. 

Marc Jacobs History – Starting a new Company

In 1993, Jacobs and Duffy decided to launch Jacobs Duffy Designs Inc. They started their own licensing and design company called Marc Jacobs International Company. His designs under this company were praised for being modern while retaining their simplicity. In 1997, the duo joined Louis Vuitton. Jacobs became the creative director while Duffy became the Studio director. Jacobs joined intending to create deluxe items that people could travel with. He also created the first ready-to-wear clothing line for the company. Duffy and Jacobs launched the first Marc Jacobs store on Mercer Street the same year.

In 2001 of Marc Jacobs history, Marc Jacobs introduced a diffusion line and a spring runway show. By 2004, a shop selling both lines opened in Boston, and they opened more stores a year later in Los Angeles. In 2006, the brand went further to open a new shop in Paris and followed it up with another store in London in 2007. That same year, Marc Jacobs launched a new line for children, and it was tagged ‘Little Marc Jacobs.’ Marc Jacobs history shows that the brand continued to diversify by starting an eyewear range the same year. They also launched the first fragrance, ‘Daisy.’ 

The brand followed this up with more shops in Tokyo, London, Georgia, Savannah, and Moscow. In 2008, more locations continued to open worldwide, with a Chicago boutique offering limited-edition fragrances. In addition, the company has different collections, including ready-to-wear, male and female, two shoe collections, two sunglass collections, nice fragrances, and a children’s line. Over the years, March Jacobs has won seven more awards from the CFDA.

The Louis Vuitton Years

In exchange for support for his fashion house, Marc Jacobs signed on as the creative director for the fashion brand Louis Vuitton. Marc Jacobs history showed he helped give the brand new life. He expanded the brand globally and helped it develop its first ready-to-wear line in 1998. His first set of collections at Louis Vuitton offers consumers a feeling of easy, wearable chic outfits. These apparel pieces include trench coats, canvas skirts, and jackets stamped with LV’s mini-monogram. This was a significant far cry from his grunge days. 

While serving as the creative director at Louis Vuitton, Jacobs started collaborating with other designers to create some of the most iconic items under the brand. In 2003, Jacobs collaborated with Takashi Murakami to produce one of the most loved collections under the Louis Vuitton brand. You could find some items from this collection in the arm of celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and many more. It was so popular that it only began to fade out of style in 2015. 

Marc Jacobs is also responsible for launching the Men’s line for Louis Vuitton. This was an experiment as he combined the elegance of the tennis player’s suit from the 30s and high-tech fabric. He switched from minimalism to luxury in the mid-2000s by drawing inspiration from several decades of fashion. Most people believe this was his most memorable and creative era while serving as creative director for the Louis Vuitton Label. 

Fashion Collections Over the Years

For the Spring/Summer collection, which he released in 2009, Marc Jacobs drew inspiration from the Paris of the 40s. This was a Deco-era palette with showgirl glints of metallic crystal and python. He also drew inspiration from the 80s leather necklaces and belts fashion like paper chains. Thigh boots were topped with ruffles and balanced on pearl with glitter-covered heels.

In Marc Jacobs history, his 2010 collection was a ready-to-wear line, and his inspiration for this collection came from the 30s, 50s, and 60s for the silhouette. He paired this with clean makeup, bouncy ponytails, and block-heeled pumps featuring flat bows. For his 2012 Spring collection, there were frothy feathers, crocodile pumps, puffed drop-waist skirts, fairytale tiaras, and many more.

In 2014, Marc Jacobs stepped down as the creative director of Louis Vuitton. He did this to focus on his line. During his time at Louis Vuitton, his influence in growing the fashion house was apparent. He refreshed the brand’s identity and further projected them to the global platform. Since he always had an interest in performance and one of the biggest parts of his performance was fashion, his last collection for the brand was a return to his roots. 

He recreated some of the sets from his previous years with 90s punk mohawk wigs made of feathers, cool sparkly lights, and black leather jackets. He dedicated this collection to the women who influenced him during his time in Paris. This included designer muses like Rei Kawakubo, Coco Chanel, and Miuccia Prada. He also dedicated the collection to the showgirl in everyone. One this is clear; he was able to identify and appeal to a new type of urban woman during his years at Louis Vuitton.

Marc Jacobs Collaborations

From 1997 to 2014, Marc was the creative director of Louis Vuitton. While at this French fashion house, Marc Jacobs history shows he collaborated with several artists to create a modern flair for the fashion label. Afterwards, he also collaborated with several artists for his brand. Below are some of the most iconic collaborations Jacobs worked on. 

Marc Jacobs and Takashi Murakami

This is one of the popular collaborations during Jacob’s time at Louis Vuitton. Takashi is a renowned illustrator, and together, they gave the LV monogram pattern a makeover. Takashi’s inspiration came from manga and anime, and some characters appeared between the rainbow monogram stamps. The bags borne out of this collaboration was a Paris Hilton favorite. It soon became a fashion trend from the early 2000s to the mid-2000s.

Marc Jacobs and Stephen Sprouse

Stephen Sprouse is famous for his graffiti-style art, and Jacobs collaborated with him to create a collection of luxury goods and bags that featured graffiti-style accents. Jacobs had two collaborations with Stephen Sprouse. While one was in 2001, the second took place in 2009. The monogram bags were a success in the fashion world and gave Louis Vuitton bags an edgier and more relaxed look.

Marc Jacobs and Richard Prince

For the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer collection, Jacobs collaborated with Richard Prince to create a nurse-themed collection. Prince’s nurse painting inspired this collection, and the LV models wore LV monogrammed black lace face masks. They also wore nurse buttons and sheer nurse gown-style shirt dresses. 

Marc Jacobs and Stray Rats

Jacobs explored modern streetwear through a collaboration with the streetwear brand Stray Rats. This was in honor of the Lunar Year of the Rat and took place in 2020. For this campaign, Frank Ocean modelled to bring some streetwear and youthful elements to his brand. 

Heaven by Marc Jacobs

As Jacobs love for youth subculture reemerged, he released a new line called Heaven that focused on Gen Z fashion. This collection featured grunge elements, Sofia Coppola references, and vintage books. Nicki Minaj modelled for Heaven’s recent campaign, increasing the hype for the collection.

Final Thoughts

Marc Jacobs history shows that he is a fashion icon whose revolutionary pieces shaped fashion as we know it to be today. His influence on Louis Vuitton cannot be overemphasized, and he remains one of the most recognized fashion designers in the industry. Years after debuting as the boy wonder of the fashion world, Marc Jacobs continues to turn heads to date.