Marc Jacobs is my pick for today for Designer Week.  He is the American fashion designer best known for his eponymous label Marc Jacobs, his diffusion line Marc by Marc Jacobs and his tenure at Louis Vuitton as Creative Director which commenced in 1997.  I have chosen Marc Jacobs because I think his designs are innovative and avantgarde, and for the most part, very wearable. Many celebrities wear his designs, and Victoria Beckham is well known as being his muse and appearing in his famous advertising campaigns. I also love his fragrances and am a huge fan of his signature fragrance, simply called Marc Jacobs, as well as the lovely Daisy.  Read on to find out more about this designer of the times.

Born in New York City in 1963, he spent much of his early life moving from place to place following the death of his father and the three subsequent marriages of his mother.  As a teenager he lived with his paternal grandmother, whom he has credited as being one of his greatest influences. 

After graduating from the High School of Art & Design in 1981, he studied at the world-famous Parsons School of Design.  In his final year he was awarded three of the schools highest honors - Design Student of the Year, the Perry Ellis Gold Thimble Award and the Chester Weinberg Gold Thimble Award.  At his graduate show, the sweaters he had in the show attracted much attention - including that of Barbara Weiser, owner of New York's Charivari boutique,who subsequently placed an order and sold them in her boutique under the lable Marc Jacobs for Marc and Barbara.  He caught the eye of Robert Duffy, who enlisted Jacobs to design for Sketchbook.  The sweaters he designed were photographed all over and that was really the beginning of his career. 

After establishing a business partnership with Duffy in 1986 (that still exists today), he joined Perry Ellis two years later.  Jacobs enjoyed a successful tenure at the label.  However, in 1993 after showing the now infamous "grunge" collection, he and Duffy were dismissed after the collection was a commercial failure (despite the fact that the press had given it rave reviews!).  Later that year Jacobs & Duffy launched their own company, and in April 1994 he showed his comeback collection with the support of the likes of Linda Evangelista & Naomi Campbell who walked in his show for free.

In 1997 he was named Creative Director of Louis Vuitton, where he created the house's first ready-to-wear clothing line.  At the same time, LVMH bought a stake in Jacobs' own label, allowing him the financial freedom to expand his business.  In the Spring of 2001, Jacobs introduced his secondary line, Marc by Marc Jacobs.

In June 2011 he was awarded the CFDA's prestigious Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement prize.  The year 2012 marked 15 years as Creative Director of Louis Vuitton, and it was announced that an exhibition of his work would be staged in Paris.  He said the curation of the exhibition was "emotional".