Every now and then, a person comes along to cause ripples in the fashion industry. In recent decades, many of these ripples came from designer Marc Jacobs.

Marc Jacobs has indeed come a long way, from taking knitting lessons from his grandmother to sewing the proverbial golden thread. He runs his own labels, Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc, all while serving as artistic director for French luxury empire Louis Vuitton.

Louis Vuitton took Marc Jacobs in as its creative director in 1997. In turn, he diverted the company away from flagging sales, largely by expanding its range beyond luggages. Under Marc Jacob’s leadership, LV refurbished its accessory range and launched its first ready-to-wear line. In later years, he began striking collaborations on LV bag designs with the likes of Stephen Sprouse, Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, and Julie Verhoeven.

Born in New York City on April 9, 1963, Marc Jacobs showed a flair for fashion at a young age. When he was 15, he worked at a Charivari boutique in New York City, where he would get familiar with the era’s top designers. True to form, he later attended the High School of Art and Design.

In 1981, Marc Jacobs enrolled in Parsons School of Art and Design. Three years later, he bagged the school’s Perry Ellis Golden Thimble award and landed a designing gig for sportswear firm Ruben Thomas. He went on to win the school’s award for Design Student of the Year.

But that paled in comparison to 1987, when Marc Jacobs received The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent. He is one of the youngest persons ever to receive the recognition.

Lusting for talent, Perry Ellis tapped Marc Jacobs in 1989 to become vice president of its women’s line. Then in 1992, Marc Jacobs put together his legendary grunge collection, for which he walked away with the Women’s Designer of the Year Award from the CFDA.

Although he has been assembling his collections since 1986, he never had his own label. With Robert Duffy of Ruben Thomas, he finally established his eponymous label in 1993. A secondary line, Marc by Marc Jacobs, premiered in spring of 2001.

Married to Lorenzo Martone, Marc Jacobs shuttles between New York City and Paris, where he houses a mammoth art collection.