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. At its peak, it had over 200 retail stores in 80 countries. 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, and was #14 on Out magazine's 2012 list of "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America". He married his longtime partner Charly Defrancesco on April 6, 2019.
Early life and education Jacobs was born to a secular Jewish family in New York City. 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." 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.
Jacobs grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and attended Teaneck High School.
He developed a passion for fashion at a young age. He attended the High School of Art and Design and studied at Parsons School of Design in New York. While at Parsons in 1984, he won the Perry Ellis & Chester Weinberg Gold Thimble Award, and Design Student of the Year. 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.
Career At age 15, Jacobs worked as a stockboy at Charivari, a later defunct avant-garde clothing boutique in New York City. 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.
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".
Perry Ellis, 1988–1993 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. 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. In February 1993, Perry Ellis decided to get out of the manufacturing business and shut down the designer collection.Maryellen Gordon (February 24, 1994), Marc Jacobs Plans Small Line For Fall Women's Wear Daily.
Marc Jacobs, 1986–present
In fall 1993, Jacobs Duffy Designs Inc. launched their own licensing and design company, Marc Jacobs International Company, L.P. In exchange for a percentage of future licensing income, Perry Ellis invested startup capital.Marc’s Next Move Women's Wear Daily, April 8, 1994. In 1994, Jacobs produced his first full collection of menswear.
In 1995, Jacobs signed a global licensing agreement with Italian clothing company Gilmar to manufacture and distribute his main designer collection and a jeanswear line; as part of the agreement, he briefly took on a consulting role for Gilmar’s flagship luxury brand, Iceberg.Samantha Conti (May 4, 1995), Gilmar in License Pact for Jacobs Collection Women's Wear Daily.
LVMH acquired a majority stake in the Marc Jacobs brand in 1997, the same year it named Jacobs Louis Vuitton's first creative director.Chandni Shah and Mrinmay Dey (May 14, 2026), LVMH to sell Marc Jacobs to WHP Global, G-III as buyers raise $850 million Reuters.
For the brand's advertising campaigns, Marc Jacobs has worked with renowned photographers including Juergen Teller (1998–2014),Lauren Milligan (April 3, 2012), Marc Jacobs: Fruitful Partnership British Vogue. David Sims (since 2014), and Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott (since 2013).
In 2004, Marc Jacobs first entered into a licensing agreement with Safilo for the design, manufacturing and worldwide distribution of the brand's collections of sunglasses and optical frames.Sandra Salibian (December 10, 2019), Marc Jacobs, Safilo Sign Early License Renewal Women's Wear Daily. The brand first introduced a capsule line for children in 2005, later expanding the collection and the business by entering into licensing agreements with French partners Zannier (2006–2011) and Children Worldwide Fashion Group (from 2011).Miles Socha (June 9, 2011), Marc Jacobs Inks New Deal for Children’s Wear Women's Wear Daily.
In 2006, Jacobs started a new line of body-splash fragrances in ten-ounce bottles which were distributed by Coty; as part of the agreement, Jacobs released his popular Daisy collection of perfumes in 2007.
In 2009, Jacobs launched a shirt, sold at his stores, 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.
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. There are now three sites for Heaven by Marc Jacobs in Los Angeles, New York City, and London.
For Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week in July 2011, Jacobs was the patron of the young talent award "Designer for Tomorrow by Peek & Cloppenburg".
By August 2011, it was reported that Jacobs might succeed John Galliano as creative director of Christian Dior. According to The Daily Telegraph, Jacobs "firmly laid to rest rumours that he was to move to Christian Dior" in January 2012, but rumors prevailed.
In 2013, Jacobs served as creative director for the Diet Coke brand's 30th anniversary; he spent a year giving the brand a "stylish and light-hearted" makeover.
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.
In 2015, Duffy stepped down from his leading role at Marc Jacobs, ceding day-to-day duties but remaining on the board of the company.Steven Kurutz (June 2, 2018), How Marc Jacobs Fell Out of Fashion The New York Times.
In response to weakening business at Marc Jacobs in 2017, LVMH closed down the label’s small menswear business as a cost-cutting measure. In 2018, it hired Baja East co-founder John Targon to join Marc Jacobs as "creative director of contemporary"; he was let go after only two months.Steff Yotka (April 18, 2018), After 2 Months, John Targon Is Leaving Marc Jacobs Vogue
In September 2020, Jacobs released Heaven, a polysexual line aimed at a younger audience while blurring gender boundaries, with a campaign featuring beabadoobee and Iris Law.
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.
In 2024, Jacobs pledged that his products would not use or sell animal fur – and that they had not since 2018 – in response to a pressure campaign from animal activists.
In 2026, LVMH sold the brand to New York-based brand management firm WHP Global. Under the agreement, WHP formed a 50/50 joint venture with apparel company G-III to own Marc Jacobs' intellectual property.
Louis Vuitton, 1997–2014 In 1997, Jacobs was appointed Louis Vuitton's creative director, where he created the company's first ready-to-wear clothing line. Jacobs collaborated with many popular artists for his Louis Vuitton collections, including Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, and Kanye West.
In October 2013, after the Spring/Summer 2014 show, it was revealed that Jacobs would leave Louis Vuitton to focus on his own line.
Marc by Marc Jacobs, 2001–2015
In spring 2001, Jacobs introduced his secondary line, Marc by Marc Jacobs. In 2005, Look was the Marc by Marc Jacobs ready-to-wear license holder in Japan with retail value of €50 million. By 2013, Marc by Marc Jacobs was estimated to account for about 80 percent of the brand's revenue.Astrid Wendlandt and Pascale Denis (October 2, 2013), Designer Marc Jacobs leaves Vuitton to float own brand Reuters. That year, British designers Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier joined the label as creative directors.
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.
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.
Heaven by Marc Jacobs, 2020–present In September 2020, Jacobs released Heaven, a polysexual line aimed at a younger audience while blurring gender boundaries, with a campaign featuring beabadoobee and Iris Law.
Legal issues In February 2008, Jacobs was accused of plagiarizing a scarf design created in the 1950s by Swedish designer Gösta Olofsson. Jacobs settled the matter by offering monetary compensation to Olofsson's son.
In February 2010, Jacobs sued Ed Hardy for infringing on the designs of one of his embroidered handbags.
In 2018, the band Nirvana sued Marc Jacobs over the rights to the band's "smiley face" logo, arguing that the brand had been using a "virtually identical" logo on its "Bootleg Redux Grunge" clothing collection without permission. By 2024, the Marc Jacobs company, artist Robert Fisher and the surviving members of Nirvana settled the lawsuit.Chandni Shah and Mrinmay Dey (May 14, 2026), Nirvana, Marc Jacobs to settle lawsuit over smiley-face logo Reuters.
Films 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. His character, Harvey, runs a house of teenage Internet porn performers, which is being investigated by a TV reporter, played by Riseborough.
In 2007, filmmaker Loïc Prigent released a documentary film about Jacobs entitled Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton. In September 2025, a documentary about Jacobs which was made by Sofia Coppola titled Marc by Sofia premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival.
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