Marc Jacobs. Biography and Influences

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Synopsis Marc Jacobs, an American fashion designer, was born on April 9, 1963 in New York City in a non-observant Jewish family. Marc's life was completely altered following the death of his father at the age of 7. He would eventually move in with his grandmother and that made all the difference. Marc entered the Parsons School of Design and later a position at Perry Ellis. Marc Jacobs is best known for his eponymous label Marc Jacobs, his diffusion line Marc by Marc Jacobs and his 16-years tenure at Louis Vuitton as creative director. Early years Born April 9, 1963, in New York City, Jacobs' home life was turned upside-down at the age of 7, when his father, an agent at the William Morris agency, died from ulcerative colitis—a condition that Marc also suffered from. According to Jacobs, his mother was “mentally ill” and “didn’t really take care of her kids”(Levy). She responded poorly to his father's death, embarking on a life of power dating and failed marriages that caused serious upheaval in the family. With each remarriage, Jacobs and his siblings would be forced to relocate to a new home, bouncing from New Jersey to Long Island and then the Bronx. Feeling alienated from his mother and siblings, Jacobs moved in with his paternal grandmother on the Upper West Side of Manhattan when he was a teenager. It was while living with his grandmother that Jacobs truly felt at home; well-traveled and educated, her love of aesthetically beautiful things and her appreciation for Jacobs' creative designs helped the grandmother and grandson forge a close relationship. "I always say I lived my life with my grandmother," Jacobs says, "She was emotionally stable, and she was very encouraging to me". Jacobs' grandmother also allowed Jacobs to enjoy a permissive adolescence full of self-exploration. "No one ever said 'no' to me about anything," he said. "No one ever told me

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