Epitomising breathtaking style and cutesy kitsch in a single fashion line, it is easy to see how Marc Jacobs has secured and maintained its place in the annals of fashion history. The founder’s youth is perhaps on his side, with him having designed and sold his first line of hand-knitted sweaters while still a student of art and design. He was only twenty-three when the first line bearing the Marc Jacobs label was released in 1986 (although the company itself was not licensed until 1993), and he won the Perry Ellis Award for New Talent just a year later. Lately he has also been famed for his unusual choices of models for the Marc Jacobs brand (including Russian pop duo t.a.t.u and child actress Dakota Fanning).
While the number of Marc Jacobs boutiques is increasing, they often only sell certain Marc Jacobs lines, but the brand’s diversity is also evident from its chosen locations, which range from San Francisco to Guam. Many accessories and other ready-to-wear items are also sold in department stores around the world. The brand’s original home – Bleecker Street in New York City – perhaps takes this to the extreme, featuring five Marc Jacobs stores selling his various lines along one street.
Perhaps the most famous item by Marc Jacobs to date is the “mouse shoe”: ballerina flats with instant adorability and covetability for both young teens and those in their twenties and thirties. Quality is evident; you easily get what you pay for in terms of durability, comfort and style, and the style is available in a number of colour variations too. The brand’s fragrances also successfully reach the key age 18-24 market with scents such as Daisy, Blush, and Lola.
Other original incarnations, such as the brand’s clock pendants, which have spawned imitations the world over, help Marc Jacobs to retain its young, fresh essence.