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Marc Jacobs to Leave Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs to Leave Louis Vuitton
(about 2 hours later)
PARIS — Marc Jacobs is leaving Louis Vuitton after 16 years, to concentrate on his own eponymous line, which is now nearing €1 billion in value, according to a high-level executive at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.PARIS — Marc Jacobs is leaving Louis Vuitton after 16 years, to concentrate on his own eponymous line, which is now nearing €1 billion in value, according to a high-level executive at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Although the source would not be named and there is, as yet, no public announcement, Mr. Jacobs confirmed his departure backstage. Although the source would not be named and there is, as yet, no public announcement, Mr. Jacobs, 50, confirmed his departure backstage.
His notes in the program for the Louis Vuitton spring 2014 show on Wednesday ended with the words: “For Robert Duffy and Bernard Arnault, All my love, Always.” The message referred to Mr. Jacobs’s business partner, Mr. Duffy, and to the chairman and chief executive of LVMH, Mr. Arnaut.His notes in the program for the Louis Vuitton spring 2014 show on Wednesday ended with the words: “For Robert Duffy and Bernard Arnault, All my love, Always.” The message referred to Mr. Jacobs’s business partner, Mr. Duffy, and to the chairman and chief executive of LVMH, Mr. Arnaut.
Although rumors have circulated that LVMH had difficulties with the designer’s sometimes erratic behavior, the executive said that the company and the designer were on excellent terms, that what Mr. Jacobs had done for Vuitton was “inoui,” or amazing, and that the focus was now on the further growth of the Marc Jacobs brand. Although rumors have circulated that LVMH had difficulties with the designer’s sometimes erratic behavior and recent contract negotiations were reported to have been in doubt, the executive said that the company and the designer were on excellent terms, that what Mr. Jacobs had done for Vuitton was “inoui,” or amazing, and that the focus was now on the further growth of the Marc Jacobs brand.
However, the mood at the show was wistful. It was intensely back and had many elements — a carousel, a grand hotel elevator and twin escalators — that had been stage sets at previous LV shows. And the showgirl clothes, with their giant Folies Bergère feather headdresses and jet-embroidered chiffon, gave the impression that the party performance was over, not least because bluejeans were often worn as a counterpart to the finery. However, the mood at the show was wistful. It was intensely back and had many elements — a carousel, a grand hotel elevator and twin escalators — that had been stage sets at previous LV shows.
At the start of the show, which received a standing ovation, the graffiti lettering on hose harked back to the work of Stephen Sprouse, and one of the early art collaborations with Marc Jacobs in 2000. But this time around, accessories and especially the 16 small and unremarkable Louis Vuitton purses, did not steal the show. “It’s like a funeral,” said Edward Enninful, the fashion and style director of W magazine, as he entered the show.
A jumpsuit with graffiti reading ‘"I Love Paris'’ was part of the “goodbye” show. “It was an ode to Paris and to all the people I have been involved and work with. This city has been so great,'’ said Mr. Jacobs, who is expected to return to his native New York, where his own company is based. And the showgirl clothes, with their giant Folies Bergère feather headdresses and jet-embroidered chiffon, gave the impression that the party performance was over, not least because bluejeans were often worn as a counterpart to the finery.
At the start of the show, which received a standing ovation, the graffiti lettering on hose harked back to the work of Stephen Sprouse in 2000, one of the early art collaborations with Mr. Jacobs. But this time around, accessories and especially the 16 small and unremarkable Louis Vuitton purses, did not steal the show.
A jumpsuit with graffiti reading ‘"I Love Paris'’ was part of the “goodbye” show. “It was an ode to Paris and to all the people I have been involved and work with. This city has been so great,'’ said Mr. Jacobs, who is expected to return to his native New York, where his own company is based. He plans to take the company public within the next three years, according to a report in Women’s Wear Daily, attributing confirmation to Mr. Arnault.
Now the attention shifts to who will take over at Louis Vuitton, which is the cash cow of the multibillion dollar luxury group.Now the attention shifts to who will take over at Louis Vuitton, which is the cash cow of the multibillion dollar luxury group.
The bets are on Nicolas Ghesquière, formerly the designer for Balenciaga, owned by luxury group Kering (formerly PPR). But Delphine Arnault, Mr. Arnault’s daughter, made a gesture at the Vuitton show to indicate that her lips were sealed. The bets are on Nicolas Ghesquière, formerly the designer for Balenciaga, owned by luxury group Kering (formerly PPR). But Delphine Arnault, Mr. Arnault’s daughter and an executive vice president at Louis Vuitton, made a gesture at the Vuitton show to indicate that her lips were sealed.
Last week, Reuters reported that Mr. Jacobs’s contract had not been resolved, although negotiations began in January, and noted the significance for a label that accounts for annual sales of nearly 7 billion euros and more than half of LVMH’s operating profits. Louis Vuitton’s growth, after years of annual gains of 10 percent or more, has slowed to 5 percent to 6 percent this year, while LVHM has not kept track with the broader European luxury sector, the Reuters report noted.
Also last week, Vuitton announced that it had hired Darren Spaziani, most recently the director of accessories at Proenza Schouler in New York, to develop a higher end collection of accessories. Mr. Spaziani previously worked with Mr. Jacobs at Louis Vuitton and Mr. Ghesquière at Balenciaga, prompting further speculation that a bigger change in creative direction was in the works. Editors and retailers reacted positively to the news after the show.
“Marc is absolutely significant to fashion,” said Ken Downing, the fashion director of Neiman Marcus. “But as we have seen at many other houses, designers have taken a hiatus or been replaced by other talents. It has been a Marc moment for many years here, but fashion is an industry of change. It is never the same day any day.”
Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue, noted the implication for Mr. Jacobs’s signature label, which is recently expanded with a new line of cosmetics, in a post on the magazine’s Web site. “It’s important to know how to exit, as well as arrive, and it’s going to be exciting to see how this impacts on the creativity in his own line,” she said.
Mr. Jacobs, after a famously ill-fated early career at Perry Ellis, started his signature company 20 years ago and joined Vuitton in 1997 at the beginning of a period of rapid growth in the luxury sector. The period also marked the beginning of an intense competition between the two major luxury conglomerates, LVMH and Kering, as they acquired virtually every historic fashion brand in Europe, as well as some in America.
Mr. Jacobs’s tenure at Vuitton became one of the most successful examples of a revival of a historic French house, and also the longest-running apart from Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel and Fendi, spawning what has become a standard business model to place contemporary designers at historic fashion labels. While Vuitton’s ready-to-wear has become a substantial business, its accessories have been the most important money makers for LVMH, including collaborations with Mr. Sprouse and the artists Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince.
The departure of Mr. Jacobs, who is also seen as a potential successor to Mr. Lagerfeld at Chanel someday, also comes during a Paris season that has been filled with great fashion moments and even greater intrigue. Executives on both sides have said privately over the last week that there had been tension between the designer and LVMH, with each side leaking details of their frustrations to manipulate the possible outcomes. But they ultimately reached an agreement that was in their mutual interests, they said.
Both LVMH and Kering are once again making investments in young designer labels at a rapid pace, with J.W. Anderson of London and the shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood joining LVMH, and Joseph Altuzarra and Christopher Kane now linked with Kering.
With his longtime business partner, Mr. Duffy, Mr. Jacobs has meanwhile increasingly sought to continue to develop the Marc Jacobs label and its lower-priced collections. During similarly fraught contract negotiations a decade ago, the duo won significant commitments from LVMH, the majority owner of the brand, to further develop its retail and design.
The potential of a public offering, which would follow a major offering from Michael Kors two years ago, has been described as an opportunity for LVMH to divest its interest in the Marc Jacobs company, and for Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Duffy to invest further in the brand’s development. But for that to happen, it was seen by executives on both sides as necessary for Mr. Jacobs to return fulltime to his own company.