A look back at Marc Jacobs’ bumper 40th anniversary year

2024 has truly belonged to Marc Jacobs. On Friday, his eponymous label launched a re-edition of the hit noughties Stam bag, designed by fellow New York brand Vaquera and modelled by it-girl of the moment, Addison Rae. At first glance, the black fluffy dollar-note-embellished pouch doesn’t bear any resemblance to the 2005 original. But upon closer inspection, the kiss lock, top handles and chain shoulder strap signatures are all present in this “new generation” version.

This latest collaboration builds on an eye-wateringly impressive list — including Pat McGrath, Anna Sui and Alistair McKimm — all of whom loaned their skills to the designer in honour of his 40th anniversary.

The festivities for such kicked off in January, when the Marc Jacobs Instagram account shared a video of its founding designer blowing out precariously flame-stoked candles atop a giant cake (while clutching a branded tote, of course).

This was a prelude to the spring/summer 2024 show on February 2nd, hosted at The Park Avenue Armory a week before the official start of New York Fashion Week. It would have been easy for the designer to present a retrospective of his greatest hits — lord knows there’s enough of them — but Jacobs has never been one to take himself that seriously. A giant folding table and chairs provided a surrealist backdrop to doll-like models, with a cartoonishly glamourous collection that played heavily with proportions.

Jacobs was named the prestigious Parsons School of Design’s Student of the Year in his graduating class of 1984. In the same year, he was hired by clothing manufacturer Rebeun Thomas, where he designed the Sketchbook label from 1984-85. A version of the beloved smiley-face covered jumper from his 1985 collection was re-issued in partnership with Cactus Plant Flea Market in July this year, as part of the 40th anniversary rollout.

In 1987, he became the youngest designer to win the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) award for New Fashion Talent. However, he hit the mainstream in 1993 when he presented his history-making grunge collection for the conservative brand Perry Ellis, which might have lost him the title of creative director but ultimately changed fashion forever.

In 1997, Jacobs was appointed creative director of Louis Vuitton (a position he held until 2014), where he not only created the leather goods company’s first ready-to-wear collections, but pioneered luxury fashion collaborations as we know them today by teaming up with artists, musicians and cultural tastemakers.

One of the most notorious of these was with graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse for spring/summer 2001. The house’s signature monogrammed accessories were sprawled with chunky, brush-stroke text repeating the words ‘Louis Vuitton’ in luminous colours — and they were an instant hit. At the time, Jacobs was quoted as saying: “I wanted to use Stephen’s graffiti because it meant something to me. Stephen as an artist, Stephen as a New York figure. It had the credibility of the street, but also the style of somebody who was a fashion designer.”

In June this year, Jacobs collaborated with the artist once again (albeit posthumously, as Sprouse passed away in 2004), on a tote bag from his namesake label. This time using the phrase “Grant me the serenity to chill” sourced from the designer’s personal archive, the bag was modelled by Christy Turlington and styled by Alastair McKimm, with a pair of matching elbow-length gloves that echoed those from the original Louis Vuitton spring/summer 2001 show.

McKimm, a renowned stylist, creative director and former editor-in-chief of i-D magazine, took his own turn delving into the Jacobs archive, selecting the now-iconic Kiki boots. First seen on the label’s autumn/winter 2016 runway, the mega-platforms were re-designed in four neon colourways, drawing inspiration from Jacobs’ previous collaboration with Sharpie. A long-time creative partner of the designer, McKimm said he wanted to “smash the two collaborations together” in a video on Instagram. The glossy, highlighter-bright boots were modelled for the 40th anniversary by Irina Shayk and released in April.

Most recently, McKimm teamed up with Jacobs on visuals for the designer’s guest-edited December issue of US Vogue. Jacobs has once again made history by becoming the first person ever to be permitted to step into Anna Wintour’s shoes — when we said 2024 belonged to him, we meant it.

Jacobs’ roster of fabulous friends is seemingly endless — he partnered with legendary make-up artist Pat McGrath in February on a £45 red lipstick named ‘Forbidden Love’, which echoed the now-defunct Marc Jacobs Beauty line (although it is set to return in 2025 under Coty). He also tapped fellow designer Anna Sui for a limited edition version of the Snapshot bag, which featured caricatures of them both by artist Will Broome, as well as a varsity jacket emblazoned with dual initials and branding.

Continuing to mix the worlds of art and fashion, this September marked the release of Marc Jacobs x Futura, a renowned New York graffiti artist whose work also spans painting, sculpture and drawing. As Leonard Hilton McGurr, formerly known as Futura 2000, says in a campaign video which stars model Paloma Elsesser: “For me it’s an exchange always of ideas and energy, and just bringing a kind of authenticity that I think Marc is like, kind of dripping with.”

In August, it was the turn of multi-hypenate Nigo to take the creative reins. Now the artistic director at Kenzo, and founder of streetwear label BAPE, his collaboration with the house was a reimagination of the Superman logo jumper from Jacobs’ 1990 menswear collection. Back in 2005, Nigo and Pharrell Williams worked with Jacobs to create a pair of sunglasses called the Millionaires for Louis Vuitton, where Williams is now the menswear creative director.

While the 40th anniversary all-star line-up was teased back in February, we are yet to see collaboration items from Pharrell Williams, Sofia Coppola or Takashi Murakami, all of whom featured in the initial announcement video. With just seven weeks left of 2024, how many more 40th anniversary celebrations can Jacobs squeeze in? We might not have the answers just yet, but if his track record is anything to go by, it’s looking like the best might just be yet to come.

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