15 years of being a Genius

The rumors that Marc Jacobs would  leave Louis Vuitton started the moment Nicolas Gesquiere left Balenciaga to talk to LVMH group and got louder at the beginning of the year. As every good story, it had to come to an end according to the official release to let Marc invest himself fully in his brand as it will go public soon.  The truth is after all the amazing creative moves he did for the brand it was time to step down, not to become a commodity like Karl Lagerfeld in Chanel.  He was highered by Bernard Arnault in 1997 and presented his first collection in 1998, with NO bags a huge revolution for the brand ,being a leather company in the base, but I remember from the documental of Loic Prigent, quoting Mr. Arnault, “we where surprised, but we have full trust in Marc’s strategy” Indeed Marc has played with the Louis Vuitton classic models in endless ways changing the shapes, materials and more specifically collaborating with the best artists of the world from Murakami to Kusama, creating limited editions that made all band lovers collect like there is no tomorrow.  As a personal experience the best shows I have ever attended have been Louis Vuitton’s and Dior’s. Marc managed to astonish us each time but the last 4 seasons have been exceptional from Carrousels to Elevators he made the impossible possible.  Here is a little ode to him, starting with one of the first portraits taken for Vogue after he stepped up the legendary french “maison” , his first “bag less” show and then some of my favorite images (impossible to gather them all) , but my favorite ? The Nurses, pure genius, no bags in the first show, nurses in the other with amazing bags… memorable. For what the future holds , who knows, what will Gesquiere do, will Louis Vuitton go super-exclusive behind the door brand to reccuperate from the democratization it has experienced in the last years that have vanalized the brand a little?, will the shows be held in a small hall of Le Crillion instead of a big installation in Le Louvre, or will it be like Dior, making the “shy” genius, go exponential… we will see. In the mean time one thing is sure:

We will miss Marc Jacobs.

Be Extraordinaire,

Love,

Yavidan