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Marc Jacobs
Post date: 2006-02-20
Nayda Freire
For a designer who so famously welcomes controversy, Marc Jacobs is quite beloved; in many respects, he is the critical (and commercial) darling of American design. All the good press, however, is not undeserved. He continually surprises audiences with his fresh, innovative approach to fashion, yet his genius ultimately lies in his ability to remain true to his trademark aesthetic, even under the guise of reinvention. Despite his desire to polarize audiences, Jacobs’ collections, even the less well-received ones, are ultimately lauded by some of fashion’s most discerning figures. Vogue’s notorious editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, has been a fiercely loyal fan since he first launched his signature line in 1986. Indeed, it is this same loyalty that Jacobs ultimately inspires in all of his fans, even the ones whose names aren’t printed in boldface.
Even with such tremendous mainstream success, Jacobs remains shrouded in what seems to be an impenetrable aura of cool. His hipster cred intact, the designer has never been one to face allegations of selling out. Part of this, no doubt, lies in Jacobs’ clear vision of the type of person he considers to be his ideal customer; he is wholly uninterested in compromising for the sake of casting wider appeal. The Marc Jacobs woman is, in essence, quirky, intelligent, perhaps even awkwardly so. She is youthful, if not young, with a taste for irony and nostalgia. When looking at a signature Jacobs piece, it is clear that while he is heavily influenced by the past, he is most interested in how to redefine old-school kitsch in modern, sophisticated terms. His collections often feature oversized bows and buttons, graphic prints, full silhouettes, and seemingly casual pieces in luxurious fabrics; there is an unmistakable sense of whimsy in his collections that keeps them from ever appearing stuffy or pretentious. Somehow, Jacobs manages to elevate what could otherwise be mistaken for an overly precious item into something completely edgy. The attention to detail on a Marc Jacobs piece is exhaustive; even when the ideas behind a particular piece seem simplistic, the piece itself rarely is.
Throughout the years, Jacobs has built an enviable celebrity clientele, many of whom happen to be some of Hollywood’s biggest A-list talent. He is particularly famous for his friendship with director Sophia Coppola, who he considers one of his muses and for whom he named one of his top-selling handbags. Other famous Marc Jacobs fans include Winona Ryder, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Moss, and such up-and-comers as model Gemma Ward and the OC’s Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson.
Jacobs’ career is one that appears to be defined by success; he is not only responsible for his eponymous ready-to-wear lines, Marc Jacobs and the relatively more affordable Marc by Marc Jacobs, but he is also the creative director of Louis Vuitton, for which he designs a ready-to-wear collection, as well. Since hiring the designer in 1997, Vuitton has enjoyed a wild resurgence in popularity; annual revenues skyrocketed from 1.2 billion in 1996 to 3.5 billion in the past year. Jacobs’ collaboration with Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami in designing a more youthful, almost irreverent update on Vuitton’s standard monogram went on to sell upwards of $300 million worth of handbags, and continues to inspire ill-advised knockoffs to this day.
Despite the flagrant success he enjoys today, the 42-year-old designer has experienced his share of setbacks, in both his professional and personal lives, as well. Shortly after his graduation from Parsons School of Design, Jacobs and his business partner Robert Duffy went on to launch Jacobs Duffy Designs, Inc. in 1986. Industry insiders immediately fell in love with Jacobs’ work, with upscale department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale’s carrying his designs, and even supermodels like Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell agreeing to do his runway shows free of charge.
Still, even with all the critical fanfare, commercial success proved evasive in the brand’s early years. It wasn’t long before Jacobs and Duffy had to put their own dreams on hold; in 1988, Perry Ellis hired the duo to occupy the company’s top positions, with Jacobs as creative director and Duffy as president. It was during his tenure at Perry Ellis that he designed what continues to be his most referenced collection to date, one which would ultimately contribute to both his and Duffy’s dismissal from Perry Ellis. In 1992, Jacobs unveiled his grunge collection, which re-imagined the flannel uniform of early ‘90s counterculture in more luxurious terms. Critics, once again, were delighted with Jacobs’ ability to blur the line between high and low fashion, to translate such unmistakably street influences into a convincing runway collection. Executives at Perry Ellis, however, did not see eye to eye with the designer and his supporters, and declared the grunge line unwearable and unappealing to their customers.
Shortly after being fired from Perry Ellis, Jacobs and Duffy rented a store in Soho, but due to lack of funds, they were forced to leave it empty at first. This same space still serves as the designer’s flagship boutique today, although his empire has expanded significantly since then to include nearly twenty stores worldwide. In 1994, Jacobs showed his first runway collection designed under his own name to resounding critical acclaim. Two years later, Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, hired Jacobs to head creative duties at Louis Vuitton. Negotiations took almost two years to finalize, with the designer agreeing to the position on the condition that LVMH help finance the Marc Jacobs line.
Even with the prestige of his appointment to Louis Vuitton and the newfound financial freedom to develop his signature collection, Jacobs now found himself facing more personal crises than ever before. The pressure of being the creative head of a multi-billion dollar company was taking its toll on the designer’s self-esteem, and it was not long before he found himself overindulging in drugs and alcohol to cope with his insecurities. At one point, he was using both cocaine and heroin every day; eventually, he stopped showing up to appointments, antagonized his staff, and basically set himself up for failure in every possible way. Finally, it was up to Duffy to see to it that Jacobs clean up his act and make good on his talent. At the behest of longtime Jacobs advocate Anna Wintour and Naomi Campbell, Duffy met with Arnault about checking the designer into rehab. After some protestation, Jacobs finally agreed to take some time off to undergo treatment at a center in Arizona; his cigarette addiction notwithstanding, he’s been sober since 1999.
Nowadays, Jacobs resides in Paris nearly year-round, a move that the designer credits with helping him maintain a calmer, less stressed demeanor than the one he held while living in New York full-time. Still, hints of the old Marc Jacobs, pre-megafame juggernaut, remain visible in his work. His fall 2005 collection, awash in sumptuous velvets and exaggeratedly voluminous shapes, was the subject of much negative feedback, not unlike the now-infamous Perry Ellis grunge line. True to form, the designer refused to buckle to criticism, and remains steadfastly loyal to the collection, which he counts among his personal favorites.
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