His name is synonymous with fashion and all that it stands for. Marc Jacobs is unarguably a fashion legend and a visionary in his own right!
It wasn’t the Scots alone who dared parade around in a skirt with such aplomb. Marc Jacobs sported one at a red carpet event and posed happily for the shutterbugs, who were ready to rip him apart in the media for his choices. But being the eccentric designer that he is, he simply dismissed the skirt as something he felt comfortable in. If that is not making a statement, then what is?
Jacobs’ long time friend and fashion collaborator, Robert Duffy has played an important role in his fashion career. Together they have built the Marc Jacobs brand that now verges on an empire, comprising of clothes, shoes, accessories, stores and fragrances.
And He Is Born…
Marc Jacobs was born in 1963 to parents who were agents for the William Morris talent agency. He lost his father when he was seven and his mother remarried thrice after that, which meant that young Marc and his two siblings had to travel around the state a lot.
As a teenager, Jacobs started working in the stockroom of a trendy New York clothing boutique, Charivari for free. And while folding sweaters and dressing mannequins, he befriended influential patrons of the fashion industry, including sportswear designer Perry Ellis.
Jacobs left his family house in 1980 after a fallout with his parents and moved in on the Upper West Side with his paternal grandmother, who introduced him to the world of knitting. He graduated from the High School of Art and Design in 1981 and took up a summer course on costume-making at Parsons School of Design in Paris. Later, on the advice of Perry Ellis, he also enrolled at the institute full-time. All his efforts were recognised when he was awarded Parsons’ ‘Design Student of the Year’ for his collection of three op-art sweaters, hand-knit by his grandmother.
The oversized trapezoidal pieces also won him the school’s ‘Chester Weinberg’ and ‘Perry Ellis Gold Thimble’ awards. Impressed with his designs, Robert Duffy, executive for Ruben Thomas at the time, roped him in to design a ready-to-wear collection for the company’s Sketchbook label.
Getting Started
In April of 1985, Marc charmed the critics with his second collection for Sketchbook. New York Times, in their article on hot new designers, termed his work as young and irreverent with a whimsical, childlike grace and a hint of the exuberance of the 1960s.
In 1988, Marc his very own special place in the fashion industry as he became the youngest designer ever to receive the ‘Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent’ from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Following this, Perry Ellis executives hired Marc as Creative Director and Duffy as President of the women’s line. The pair, during this period, hired Tom Ford, a friend and struggling designer, to work on womenswear. And at 25, Jacobs was spearheading Perry Ellis. His first collection for the brand, with an American-flag theme, debuted to a packed crowd at the Puck building in Manhattan’s Soho district.
Trying Times
In 1992, Jacobs showed his notorious but landmark Grunge collection, comprising flannel shirts, thermals re-imagined in cashmere, layers and layers and all of it topped with a little crocheted skullcap. The press was smitten. The powers at Perry Ellis, however, were not.
Jacobs and Duffy were fired shortly. Jacobs and Duffy then formed their own licensing and design company – Marc Jacobs International Company in 1993. They made a comeback in 1994 with a small show held on Marc’s birthday. Top models Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell walked at his show for free.
The Turning Point
In 1997, after months of negotiation and with the help of Bernard Arnault, Marc became Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton, where he was responsible for the luxury label’s leather goods as well as creation of the house’s first clothing line for men and women. That year, the CFDA awarded Jacobs the ‘Womenswear Designer of the Year’. Following this, he was given the same title at the VH1 Fashion Awards. In 2000, Marc by Marc Jacobs debuted its Spring-Summer collection, followed by the opening of their store in Manhattan next year.
CFDA named him the ‘Menswear Designer of the Year’ in 2002, and was honoured with a plaque on the ‘Fashion Walk of Fame’ in New York City’s Garment District. In 2005, he launched a line of children’s wear called ‘Little Marc’ that saw great response from buyers.
Jacobs’ Spring-Summer 2010 collection showcased Coco Chanel-style jackets, drop-waist dresses and skirts layered in tiers with that fringe particular to satin lampshades. His Spring-Summer 2012 collection used textures like shining taffetas, cellophane organzas and leafy sequins embroidered thickly to resemble windswept fur. In contrast to this feminine expression, his Fall 2013 line was subdued with a rather muted colour palette. Jacobs’ Fall 2014 collection celebrated neutrals. The collection featured athletic cashmere dresses, ‘70s style long-line sweaters with skinny scarves, scoop-neck tunics and bomber jackets.
Foray Into Eyewear
Marc Jacobs sunglasses go with the designer’s daring persona. It combines street-savvy designs with the finesse of a finished product. Celebrities such as Mariah Carey, Nicole Richie, Adam Brody and Sarah Jessica Parker swear by his designs.
It was Jacobs who introduced the gravity-defying upside down sunglasses. He loves using prints, polka dots, gradients on aviators, oversized, round-shaped cat eye sunglasses as well as frames.
His Spring-Summer 2011 eyewear collection was all about retro colours. He also indulges in colour blocking and dual-tones. His Spring-Summer 2013 collection, with vintage chic square and round sunglasses, was an ode to the ‘60s. His Spring-Summer 2014 collection featured geeky frames that were oh-so-cool!
In 2011, the CFDA honoured Jacobs with its prestigious ‘Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement’ award. He also launched ‘Saving the Atlantic Forest’ initiative, a charitable project supporting The Nature Conservancy. The campaign’s mission is to protect and restore the endangered Atlantic Forest in Brazil. At the centre of this worthwhile project are Marc by Marc Jacobs MMJ 261/s bio-based sunglasses, made from a material derived from castor-oil seeds.
Jacobs also has an ongoing project ‘Protect The Skin You’re In’ to raise awareness about melanoma. As a part of this campaign, the designer gets the celebrities to pose nude, with their breasts and frontal area covered for T-shirts, the sales proceeds of which are given for research at NYU Langone Medical Center. Celebrities who have posed for the cause includes Miley Cyrus, Eva Mendes, Kate Upton, Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Hilary Swank and Naomi Campbell. That’s Marc Jacobs for you.
Timeline:
1984: Designed ready-to-wear collection for Ruben Thomas’s Sketchbook label.
1988: Became the youngest designer ever to receive the CFDA’s Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent.
1997: Became Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton.
2001: Opened Marc by Marc Jacobs store in Manhattan.
2011: Received the prestigious Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement award from CFDA.
2013: After the Spring-Summer 2014 show, Marc Jacobs left Louis Vuitton to focus on his own brand.
2014: The Marc Jacobs Global flagship store to open in Shanghai.
