WONDER Years

For four decades, MARC JACOBS has made fashion that is PERSONAL, URGENT, and ERA-DEFINING. "Once I knew what I LOVED," he says, "I just COULDN'T GET ENOUGH of IT."  

- STEFF YOTKA

Marc Jacobs, the fashion brand, has been in business for 40 years, but Marc Jacobs, the person, now 61, has been dreaming of fashion for much longer.

"You know how people say to count sheep in order to fall asleep?" Jacobs asks. "Well, I used to imagine myself folding this coveted red Lacoste corduroy shirt, literally putting it face down and folding it into thirds." He mimics folding a shirt, recalling his bedtime ritual as a 12- or 13-year-old, when he was living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his grandmother Helen. "That was my vision in my head. That was my sheep."

We are sitting in his white office in SoHo. A photo of svelte, nude Jacobs circa 2009 hangs on one wall, and opposite it on the ground, leaning against a bookshelf, is an image of grungy, sweater-clad Jacobs circa the mid-'90s, lounging on a bed with stylist Venetia Scott and directors Sofia Coppola and Zoe Cassavetes. In the middle is 2024 Jacobs, with a sleek bob, silver nail polish, a Carhartt hoodie, Saint Laurent jeans, and Cactus Plant Flea Market Nikes.