I always find beauty in things that are odd and imperfect, they are much more interesting
- Marc Jacobs
Early Life :
Fashion Designer Marc Jacobs was born on April 9, 1963. He was raised along with his brother and sister in New York, his father and mother worked as agents for William Morris talent agency. Jacobs life was all good till the age of 7. His father died from Ulcerative Colitis. His mother remarried three times after his father's death which made the family to move from one place to another. According to Marc Jacobs, his mother was mentally ill due to failed marriages and didn't take care of the children. Marc Jacobs went on to live with his paternal grandmother on the upper west side, in an apartment in the Majestic on Central Park West. That move changed his life forever.
Fashion Career :
Marc Jacobs grandmother was a very supportive woman and encouraged him in everything that he did. She taught Jacobs how to knit sweaters, encouraged his growing interest in fashion design. At the age of 15, he enrolled in High School of Art and Design. He worked as a stockboy in upscale clothing boutique Charivari after school. He used to fold dresses and dress mannequins there. In between the tasks, the management allowed him to design sweaters for the store. He graduated from high school in 1981 and landed a spot in Parsons School of Design.
He was a very bright student among his classmates. For his graduation project, he designed a collection of oversized hand-knit sweaters, which earned him some of the school's highest honours. He won both the Perry Ellis Gold Thimble Award and Design Student of the year at graduation in 1984. Immediately after graduation, he designed his first collection under the label Sketchbook for Reuben Thomas Inc.
In 1986, backed by Onward Kashiyama USA Inc, he released his first line of collection under his own brand label Marc Jacobs. In 1987, he won the Council of Fashion Designers of America Perry Ellis award for 'New Fashion Talent'. He was the youngest designer ever to win that award. In 1988, Jacobs along with Robert Duffy joined the women's design unit of Perry Ellis as Creative director and later worked as president of Perry Ellis following death of its founder. In 1992, the council of fashion designers of America,awarded him with the women's designer of the year award.
In 1997, Marc Jacobs was appointed as creative director of Louis Vuitton. His arrival was a turning point in Louis Vuitton's history. Marc Jacobs nearly tripled the sales of Louis Vuitton to make the overall sales to $5 billions. That job at Louis Vuitton affected his personal life. Due to growing pressure at work he started taking drugs. He was severely addicted to Heroin, Cocaine and alcohol. His friends model Naomi Campbell and vogue editor Anna Wintour, pursuaded him to seek help. So Jacobs checked in to Rehab in 1999.
After a rough time at Rehab, he came out clean. He immediately threw himself back into work. He launched Louis Vuitton's first Ready-to-wear line. Along side he also concentrated on his own labels. He sold his line of collection in his boutiques around the globe. He was also into fragrance business. Jacobs proposed to his boyfriend, Charly Defrancesco with a flash mob on April 4, 2018. They were married in New York on April 7, 2019.
