Marc Jacobs

Born in New York City, Marc Jacobs graduated from Parsons in 1984 and launched his eponymous label in 1986. His infamous 1992 'grunge' collection for Perry Ellis got him fired but cemented his cultural authority. In 1997 LVMH installed him as the first creative director of Louis Vuitton's ready-to-wear, where for sixteen years he turned the monogram trunk-maker into a fashion house — collaborations with Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince, the Speedy graffiti bag, the brand's catwalk debut. He left Vuitton in 2013 to focus on Marc Jacobs and the diffusion line Marc by Marc Jacobs. The eponymous house remains a fixture of New York Fashion Week, and Jacobs himself is a five-time CFDA Designer of the Year.