Marc Jacobs

This article is about the fashion designer. For other uses, see Mark Jacobs.

Marc Jacobs
Jacobs at the 2017 SXSW
Born (1963-04-09) April 9, 1963 (age 61)
New York City, U.S.
EducationHigh School of Art and Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Labels
Spouse
Charly Defrancesco
​
​
(m. 2019)​
AwardsKnight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France)

Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was discontinued after the 2015 fall/winter collection.[1] At its peak, it had over 200 retail stores in 80 countries.[2] He was the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton from 1997 to 2014. Jacobs was on Time magazine's "2010 Time 100" list of the 100 most influential people in the world,[3] and was #14 on Out magazine's 2012 list of "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America".[4] He married his longtime partner Charly Defrancesco on April 6, 2019.[5]

Early life and education

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Jacobs was born to a non-observant Jewish family in New York City.[6][7][8] When he was six, his father, an agent at the William Morris Agency, died. His mother, who remarried three times, was, according to Jacobs, "mentally ill" and "didn't really take care of her kids."[9] As a teenager, he went to live with his paternal grandmother on the Upper West Side, in an apartment in the Majestic on Central Park West.[10]

Jacobs grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and attended Teaneck High School.[11][12]

He developed a passion for fashion at a young age.[13] He attended the High School of Art and Design and studied at Parsons School of Design in New York.[6] While at Parsons in 1984, he won the Perry Ellis & Chester Weinberg Gold Thimble Award, and Design Student of the Year.[14] In 1987, he became the youngest designer ever to receive the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent. He also won the Women's Designer of the Year award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1993.[15]

Career

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At age 15, Jacobs worked as a stockboy at Charivari, a now-defunct avant-garde clothing boutique in New York City.[16] While studying at Parsons, he designed and sold his first line of hand-knit sweaters. He also designed his first collection for Reuben Thomas, Inc., under the Sketchbook label. With Robert Duffy, Jacobs's creative collaborator and business partner from the mid-1980s, he formed Jacobs Duffy Designs.[17]

Marc Jacobs logo

In 1986, backed by Onward Kashiyama USA, Inc., Jacobs designed his first collection bearing the Marc Jacobs label. In 1987, he was the youngest designer to have ever been awarded the fashion industry's highest tribute, the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Perry Ellis Award for "New Fashion Talent".[18] In 1988, Jacobs and Duffy joined the women's design unit of Perry Ellis as creative director/vice president and president, respectively, following the death of its namesake and founder.[19] In addition, Jacobs oversaw the design of the various women's licensees. In 1992, the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Jacobs with The Women's Designer of the Year Award. In the same year, he designed a "grunge" collection for Perry Ellis, which was critically well-received but its commercial failure led to his dismissal.[20]

A dress Jacobs designed in 2020 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition In America: A Lexicon of Fashion

In fall 1993, Jacobs Duffy Designs Inc. launched their own licensing and design company, Marc Jacobs International Company, L.P.[18] In 1994, Jacobs produced his first full collection of menswear.[21] In 1997, Jacobs was appointed Louis Vuitton's creative director, where he created the company's first ready-to-wear clothing line.[20] Jacobs collaborated with many popular artists for his Louis Vuitton collections, including Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, and Kanye West.[22]

Marc by Marc Jacobs in Porto

In spring 2001, Jacobs introduced his secondary line, Marc by Marc Jacobs.[16] In 2005, Look was the Marc by Marc Jacobs ready-to-wear license holder in Japan with retail value of €50 million.[23] In 2006, Jacobs started a new line of body-splash fragrances in ten-ounce bottles which were distributed by Coty. In 2007, filmmaker Loïc Prigent released a documentary film about Jacobs entitled Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.[24][25] In 2007, Jacobs released his popular Daisy collection of perfumes.[26]

In February 2008, Jacobs was accused of plagiarizing a scarf design created in the 1950s by Swedish designer Gösta Olofsson.[27] Jacobs settled the matter by offering monetary compensation to Olofsson's son.[28] In 2009, Jacobs launched a shirt, sold at his stores,[29] demanding the legalization of gay marriage. In May 2009, Jacobs co-hosted, with model Kate Moss, a "model and muse"-themed gala for the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.[30] In February 2010, Jacobs sued Ed Hardy for infringing on the designs of one of his embroidered handbags.[31]

In the course of the Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week in July 2011, Jacobs was the patron of the young talent award "Designer for Tomorrow by Peek & Cloppenburg". The five finalists were selected by Jacob and the jury board and received personal coaching by Jacobs. The jury board and Jacobs appointed the winner of 2011 during the DfT award show.[32] In August 2011, it was reported that Jacobs might succeed John Galliano as creative director of Christian Dior.[33] According to The Daily Telegraph, Jacobs "firmly laid to rest rumours that he was to move to Christian Dior" in January 2012,[34] but rumors prevailed.[35]

Jacobs made his feature film acting debut in Disconnect (2012), directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and starring Jason Bateman, Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgård and Andrea Riseborough.[36] His character, Harvey, runs a house of teenage Internet porn performers, which is being investigated by a TV reporter, played by Riseborough.[37]

In February 2013, Jacobs was named the new creative director for Diet Coke. In honor of the brand's 30th anniversary, Jacobs spent a year giving the brand a "stylish and light-hearted" makeover.[38] In March 2013, the New York Daily News revealed that the "faux fur" used in many Marc Jacobs garments is actually the fur from raccoon dogs from China.[39]

In October 2013, after the Spring/Summer 2014 show, it was revealed that Marc Jacobs would leave Louis Vuitton to focus on his own line.[40]

On January 9, 2014, it was announced that Jacobs's new Spring/Summer collection would feature actress/singer Miley Cyrus, photographed by David Sims.[41]

On February 26, 2014, it was announced that actress Jessica Lange would be the new face of Marc Jacobs Beauty. In addition, it was announced that Lange would be featured in the brand's Summer/Fall print-ad campaign photographed by David Sims, and would also star in a short campaign film directed by Jacobs, to start streaming online May 5, 2014.[42] Previously, Jacobs had dressed and interviewed Lange for Love Magazine's fifth anniversary issue, and had her provide a spoken-word version of "Happy Days Are Here Again" as the soundtrack for his Autumn/Winter 2014 show.[42]

Jacobs decided to rely on social media to cast models for Marc by Marc Jacobs's Autumn/Winter 2014 campaign, and with its success did so again for Spring/Summer 2015 with photographer David Sims, with models including Aaron Whitty, Abigail Lipp, Amy Woodman, Ana Viktoria, Dylan Stevens, Eb Eunbi, Lindsay Lurgin, MacKenzie Cockerill, Nadia Kishlan, and Toks Adewetan.[43]

In February 2018, LVMH confirmed that Baja East co-founder John Targon would join Marc Jacobs as "creative director of contemporary".[44]

On August 26, 2019, Jacobs was presented with MTV's first "Fashion Trailblazer Award" at the Video Music Awards, in partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America.[45]

In September 2020, Jacobs released Heaven, a polysexual line aimed at a younger audience while blurring gender boundaries. All of the garments incorporated brand signatures to celebrate its history, while giving new context towards a newer, younger audience, catered to alternative style. The campaign also featured young rising stars and trend-setters, such as beabadoobee and Iris Law.[46]

In February 2023, an editorial shoot went viral. The shoot included a smattering of New York City nightlife legends sitting on an extremely long couch. Models included Memphy, Amber Later, Iris Apatow, Mel Ottenberg, Goth Jafar, Anna Sui, Riley Hooker, Gabriette, Dean Kissick, and Richie Shazam. The shoot included Marc Jacob as designer, Eloise Parry as photographer, Ava Nirui as creative director, Clare Byrne as fashion editor/stylist, Evanie Frausto as hair stylist, Marcelo Gutierrez as makeup artist, and Bert Martirosyan as casting director.[47][48]

Awards

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  • CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year, 2016[49]
  • MTV Video Music Fashion Trailblazer Award, 2019[50]

Stores

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Marc Jacobs storefront in New York City

There were 285 Marc by Marc Jacobs and Marc Jacobs Collection retail locations worldwide as of the summer of 2013. The brand-new Marc Jacobs flagship shop opened in Shanghai in December 2013. Shanghai.[51]

In order to concentrate on the growth of his primary brand and cater to a more upscale clientele, Jacobs announced the closure of his subsidiary label Marc by Marc Jacobs in March 2015.[52]

There are now three sites for Heaven by Marc Jacobs in Los Angeles, New York, and London.

Style

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Explaining his clothes, Jacobs has said "what I prefer is that even if someone feels hedonistic, they don't look it. Curiosity about sex is much more interesting to me than domination... My clothes are not hot. Never. Never."[10] The audience for his fashion shows typically includes celebrities such as Kim Gordon and Vincent Gallo.[53] Guy Trebay, a critic for The New York Times, in response to Oscar de la Renta's comment that a coat designed by Jacobs closely resembled one that de la Renta had designed thirty years earlier, wrote that "unlike the many brand-name designers who promote the illusion that their output results from a single prodigious creativity, Mr. Jacobs makes no pretense that fashion emerges full blown from the head of one solitary genius".[54] Jacobs was one of the first fashion designers to establish this "street wise aesthetics – a [mash up of] a little preppie, a little grunge, a little couture."[21]

The Marc Jacobs brand has fine arts driven and avant-garde advertisement campaigns, often featuring a group of cultural icons and artists, in lieu of traditional fashion models in minimally staged settings and photographed by high-profile photographers. In 2015, Jacobs launched a popular lifestyle campaign that featured artists, celebrities, and cultural icons such as Sofia Coppola, Cher, Willow Smith, Winona Ryder, Daisy Lowe, and Anthony Kiedis.[55]

Jacobs revisited this approach for the Marc Jacobs Spring 2016 advertising campaign, describing the concept as a fashion story representing a "series of connected events; a visual narrative. It is a personal diary of people who have and continue to inspire me and open my mind to different ways of seeing and thinking. The spectrum of individuals photographed in our Spring/Summer 2016 ad campaign represent a celebration of my America." He further added that "the people featured in our campaign personify this collection of fashion through their individuality. Collectively, they embody and celebrate the spirit and beauty of equality." The New York Observer called it "the best campaign of the Spring 2016 season," and that "the designer [Marc Jacobs] has handpicked a star-studded cast of his family members [people who are key to the Marc Jacobs brand] to model the Americana gear from this collection," thus making the collection notable. The Marc Jacobs Spring 2016 advertising campaign featured Lana Wachowski, Sandra Bernhard, Bette Midler, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Sky Ferreira, Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, Vincent Michaud,[56][57] Oli Burslem, Milk, and several runway models.[58]

Personal life and causes

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Jacobs has an ongoing project entitled "Protect The Skin You're In", which has celebrities pose nude, with their breasts and frontal area covered, for T-shirts to raise awareness about melanoma; all sales benefit research at the NYU Langone Medical Center. Some of the celebrities who have posed include Miley Cyrus, Eva Mendes, Kate Upton, Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Hilary Swank, Cara Delevingne, Debbie McGee, and Naomi Campbell.[59]

On April 4, 2018, Jacobs proposed to his then-boyfriend, Charly Defrancesco, via a flash mob while in a Chipotle restaurant.[60][61] The flash mob did a routine to the song "Kiss" by Prince.[61] They were married in New York City on April 6, 2019.

The couple purchased a home in Rye, New York, in April 2019. The Westchester County home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is known as the Max Hoffman House.[62]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions | Marc Jacobs". www.marcjacobs.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "Marc Jacobs". Glamour. Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  3. ^ "The 2010 Time 100". Time. April 29, 2010. Archived from the original on May 2, 2010.
  4. ^ "The Power List". Out. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
  5. ^ "Marc Jacobs Marries Longtime Boyfriend Charly Defrancesco". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Wilson, Eric. "Marc Jacobs". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  7. ^ Jewish Virtual Library – Jewish Biographies -Fashion Icons: "Kenneth Cole" retrieved September 7, 2015
  8. ^ Bloom, Nate (May 21, 2010). "Jewish Stars 5/21". Cleveland Jewish News.
  9. ^ Levy, Ariel (September 11, 2008). "Profiles: Enchanted. The transformation of Marck Gustavo Jacobs". The New Yorker. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  10. ^ a b Larocca, Amy (August 21, 2005). "Lost and Found". New York. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  11. ^ Robb, Adam. "NJ native designers Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, nominated for CFDA Fashion Awards", The Star-Ledger, March 17, 2011. Accessed February 12, 2020. "Jacobs was raised in Teaneck and attended Teaneck High School and McCollough grew up in the New Jersey suburbs. (It's not uncommon for high fashion designers to be vague about their NJ roots.)"
  12. ^ Ruse, Leslie. "Did you know these New Jersey celebrities were engaged?", Daily Record (Morristown), August 7, 2018. Accessed February 12, 2020. "Marc Jacobs, Teaneck - Fashion designer Marc Jacobs, a graduate of Teaneck High School, used a flash mob performance to the Prince song "Kiss" to propose to boyfriend Charly Defrancesco at a Manhattan Chipotle on April 4, 2018."
  13. ^ "Is Marc Jacobs a Luxury Brand? A Full Review 2024". fitmodestyle. January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  14. ^ "Marc Jacobs". Fashion Model Directory. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  15. ^ "Marc Jacobs". British Vogue. March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Marc Jacobs". Voguepedia. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  17. ^ Singer, Sally (Summer 2008). "Robert Duffy". 032c. No. 15. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  18. ^ a b "Biographie". Marc Jacobs Website.
  19. ^ Amy Larocca (September 5, 2005). "Lost and Found". New York Magazine.
  20. ^ a b Craven, Jo (May 11, 2011). "Marc Jacobs". British Vogue. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  21. ^ a b "Marc Jacobs". Now Agency. September 14, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  22. ^ "Louis Vuitton – Designer Fashion Label". New York Magazine. New York Media. October 31, 2011. Archived from the original on December 6, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  23. ^ Chevalier, Michel (2012). Luxury Brand Management. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-17176-9.
  24. ^ Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton at IMDb
  25. ^ Feaster, Felicia (March 12, 2008). "DVD: Marc Jacobs, the Pixie". New York Press.
  26. ^ "Marc Jacobs Adds Another Daisy To His Chain! Meet The New 'Daisy Dream' Fragrance". Grazia UK. Bauer Media Group. November 11, 2014.
  27. ^ "Marc Jacobs plagiarized my dad's scarf". The Local. February 19, 2008. Archived from the original on February 27, 2008.
  28. ^ "US Fashion Designer Makes 'Plagiarized' Scarf Payout". The Local. March 4, 2008.
  29. ^ "Towleroad: Marc Jacobs T-Shirts Demand Gay Rights for Taxes".
  30. ^ Soto-Ward, Sylvana (May 4, 2009). "It Duo: Marc Jacobs and Kate Moss". Vogue. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  31. ^ Aboutaleb, Britt. "Fashionista". Fashionista. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  32. ^ LifeStyle, ENVOI; Culture, ReFined; PureStyleEdition, LLC | (January 12, 2015). "Marc Jacobs". PureStyleEdition. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  33. ^ "Marc Jacobs may become Dior creative head – report". Reuters. New York/Paris. August 23, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  34. ^ Blanchard, Tamsin (January 9, 2012). "Marc Jacobs: Not moving to Dior 'was probably best for everyone'". The Telegraph.
  35. ^ Cowles, Charlotte (March 7, 2012). "Marc Jacobs for Dior Rumors Make a Comeback". nymag.com.
  36. ^ Ginsberg, Merle (April 8, 2013). "Marc Jacobs Makes Makes His Big Screen Debut in This Weekend's 'Disconnect' (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  37. ^ Lee, Chris (April 22, 2013). "Designer Marc Jacobs' film debut is a real 'Disconnect'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  38. ^ "Marc Jacobs named Diet Coke creative director". Vogue. UK. February 6, 2013.
  39. ^ "Marc Jacobs' 'faux fur' garments actually use the coats of Chinese canines". March 8, 2013.
  40. ^ "Confirmed: Marc Jacobs Is Leaving Louis Vuitton". Vogue.co.uk. October 2, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  41. ^ "Miley Cyrus for Marc Jacobs – Spring/Summer 2014 Campaign (Vogue.com UK)". Vogue.co.uk. January 9, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  42. ^ a b "Jessica Lange: New Face Of Marc Jacobs Beauty (Vogue.com UK)". Vogue.co.uk. February 27, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  43. ^ "Take a look at the non-model cast for Marc by Marc Jacobs SS15 | Buro 24/7". www.buro247.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2015.
  44. ^ "Marc Jacobs Hires New Designer for Lower-Priced Product Push". The Business of Fashion. February 1, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  45. ^ "Marc Jacobs Will Receive MTV's First-Ever Fashion Trailblazer Award". Vogue. July 30, 2019.
  46. ^ "Say Hello to Heaven, Marc Jacobs' New Polysexual Collection". PAPER. September 9, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  47. ^ "A Deftones Concert Brought the Heaven by Marc Jacobs Couch Meme to Life". GQ. March 4, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  48. ^ "Marc Jacobs, Spring/Summer 2000". Marc Jacobs, Spring/Summer 2000. 2020. doi:10.5040/9781350950818. S2CID 241397279.
  49. ^ "CFDA Fashion Awards 2016: The Full Winners List!". June 7, 2016.
  50. ^ Weinberg, Lindsay (August 26, 2019). "VMAs: Marc Jacobs Accepts First Fashion Trailblazer Award". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  51. ^ Mistry, Meenal (August 25, 2011). "Fashion's Better Halves". Wall Street Journal Magazine.
  52. ^ "Marc by Marc Jacobs is no more". March 24, 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  53. ^ Trebay, Guy (September 13, 2007). "In This Front Row, Downtown Cred". The New York Times.
  54. ^ Trebay, Guy (May 28, 2002). "Familiar, but Not: Marc Jacobs and the Borrower's Art". The New York Times.
  55. ^ Kosin, Julie (July 8, 2015). "Marc Jacobs Unveils New Video of Cher's Fall 2015 Campaign Shoot". Harper's BAZAAR.
  56. ^ "MODEL". VINCENT MICHAUD. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  57. ^ "Sites-mjsfra-Site". www.marcjacobs.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  58. ^ "Marc Jacobs Casts His 'Family' in This Spring 2016 Ad Campaign". The New York Observer. February 2, 2016.
  59. ^ "Marc Jacobs Reissues Celebrity "Protect The Skin You're In" Tees To Benefit NYU's Interdisciplinary Melanoma Cooperative Group". NYU. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  60. ^ "Marc Jacobs proposes to boyfriend using a flashmob and it is spectacular". The Independent. April 5, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  61. ^ a b Jones, Fionnuala. "Marc Jacobs proposed to his boyfriend with a flashmob in a burrito restaurant". The Daily Edge. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  62. ^ Joyce Chen (April 9, 2019). "Marc Jacobs Drops $9.17 Million on Frank Lloyd Wright–Designed Home Outside NYC". Architectural Digest. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
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