On the Marc. Marc Jacobs is the DA MAN Style Icon for August/September 2011. Once the bad boy of fashion, Marc Jacobs has re-invented himself and become one of the global leaders of fashion, as confirmed by his “Oscar of the Fashion World” this past June.
Marc Jacobs was the 2011 winner of this year’s ‘Oscars of the fashion industry’ CFDA Lifetime Achievement award, Jacobs has somewhat mixed feelings as he tells WWD: “When I think of ‘Lifetime Achievement,’ the first thing that comes to my mind is some venerable actor who hasn’t been in a movie in 30 years whom the Academy is honoring; Lifetime Achievement seems quite final to me. I’d rather look it as an ‘In-the-Process-of Award.'”
Nonetheless, the erstwhile enfant terrible of the fashion world has grown into a distinguished, revered gent. Born in Teaneck, New Jersey in the U.S. in 1963, Jacobs’ grandmother taught him how to knit and the rest, well…, is history. However, he’s more than a designer for others, he’s a fashion icon himself. Everything, it seems, that he gets photographed wearing—whether it’s at a party in tuxedo and kilt or while he’s out having coffee in the grungiest of jeans—becomes a must-have look for fashionistos the world over.
In 1997, he became creative director of Louis Vuitton, designing the company’s first-ever ready-to-wear line. He also has, of course, his eponymous label, which has become one of “the most profitable brands in fashion.” The great thing about a guy like Marc Jacobs is that he didn’t used to be good looking or fashionable himself. Pudgy, bespectacled and unkempt were words that described him in his twenties. But he hit the gym hard, cropped his hair, got stylish Harry Winston earrings and has become obsessed with personal grooming. And that’s what’s so great about his story, because is a regular guy with great talent, but he had to work super hard to become a fashionable guy himself and that gives us all hope.
Fashion’s Night Out 2011 video
CFDA Awards Speech video
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Marc Jacobs Quotes
“I like the sort of ‘nothingness’ of the jeans and the T-shirt. I feel that’s about as close as I can get to the future.”
“Happy, happy fashion; there is not much more to it than that.”
“In New York I’m recognized a lot, although nobody says anything. You know, they stare at you just a second too long. But in Paris it’s not as commonplace to be recognized.”
“I love to take things that are everyday and comforting and make them into the most luxurious things in the world.”
“I think of many people and no one as a muse. I love the way Sofia [Coppola] looks always, and I love the way Kim [Gordon] looks always. Fashion may be part of their world, but it’s not their whole life. It’s not everything.”
“I wouldn’t know how to find eBay on the computer if my life depended on it.”
“It’s quite nice to see that I didn’t have to change who I was to reach two very different types of people.”
“Sometimes there are two very opposite directions, and we go with the stronger one at the end.”
“There was this idea of the shoe-gazer, this person who couldn’t look up, who’s sort of insecure. And I’ve always felt like that, that I never fit in. But that’s sort of empowering too.”
“What can we do to say Louis Vuitton in an even bolder way that seems even more contemporary? How are we going to create this sort of anti-snobbism snobbism?”
“I remember walking the dog one day [in Paris], I saw a car full of teenage girls, and one of them yelled, ‘Marc Jacobs!’ in a French accent.”
“I think it breaks momentum or a sort of energy when there’s harsh criticism, and I think when the critique is positive, we all feel quite robust and we’re out there.”
“There aren’t that many [fashion journalists] who I respect. There just aren’t.”
“I think fashion journalists have the right to their opinions, but I think their opinions should be based on history and what they see, not what they feel, how long they’ve been waiting or whether it’s raining or it’s snowing or whatever.”
“I still wouldn’t say I am [a great talent] … I don’t mind if you say it, but I’m not going to say it myself.”
“I worked out in the gym two hours a day for the past couple of years and so taking off my clothes was not an area about which I felt really insecure.”
“I don’t know how to download music! I am really useless at that stuff. I know how to Google and send e-mails – that is literally it. But I have been listening to Lady Gaga. I saw her play in Paris, she is a friend.”
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