Little Marc Jacobs FW'09

In 1986 Marc Jacobs designed his first collection with the Marc Jacobs label. The following year, Jacobs received the distinct honor of being the youngest designer ever to be awarded the fashion industry’s highest tribute: The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent.

In 1989 Marc Jacobs and business partner Robert Duffy joined Perry Ellis as Vice-President of Women’s Design and President respectively. In 1992, the CFDA once again bestowed Jacobs with a distinct honor: the Women’s Designer of the Year Award for his fabled Grunge Collection.

Jacobs and Duffy joined Louis Vuitton in 1997, Jacobs as Artistic Director and Duffy as Studio Director. They also opened the first Marc Jacobs free standing store on Mercer Street in New York’s Soho district.

Jacobs introduced the secondary line, Marc by Marc Jacobs, with a spring 2001 runway show. He has gone on to win seven CFDA awards including Womenswear Designer of the Year, Accessories Designer of the Year and Menswear designer of the year.

The first multi-brand store in the U.S. opened in August 2004 on Boston’s Newbury Street and May 2005 brought the opening of 3 new stores in Los Angeles.

Multiple freestanding stores and shop–in-shops continue to open domestically and across the Far East. Currently Marc Jacobs Collection and Marc by Marc Jacobs stores can be found in four locations in Hong Kong, four locations in Taiwan, twenty-five locations in Japan (including flagships in Osaka and Aoyama) and five locations in Korea.

The company opened their first free-standing European store in Paris at The Palais Royal in January, 2006 and followed with a London location in February, 2007. In the Spring of 2007 a full line of children’s wear, aptly named Little Marc Jacobs was launched.

The company has expanded to more than 100 stores worldwide. 2009 will bring new stores in London, Sao Paolo and Milan and a Collection store in Chicago.

Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy are committed to giving back to the communities where they have stores and have been involved with over 60 charities. Their continual support of these charitable projects continues to be a top priority.