Marc Jacobs Quotes & Sayings

Makeup is the finishing touch, the final accessory. — Marc Jacobs

I'm someone who came to Paris as a teenager, and I dreamed of coming back to Paris as a visitor. I never dreamed of having a job at the biggest luxury house in Paris and, you know, 15 odd years later, I'm still here. — Marc Jacobs

The thing I most love and hate about fashion is that it changes all the time. But I don't think I or anyone else can singlehandedly get rid of hooker style. Popular taste isn't great by definition. It's just popular. — Marc Jacobs

It's quite nice to see that I didn't have to change who I was to reach two very different types of people. — Marc Jacobs

I think it's an old fashioned notion that fashion needs to be exclusive to be fashionable. — Marc Jacobs

Yes, I always remember my dad's, mom's and my grandma's perfumes. — Marc Jacobs

Staring up at the sky on a bright, sunny day makes me dream and gives me ideas. — Marc Jacobs

Both my partner and I did not get into cooking so that we could wear ugly chef's coats and stuff. We dress sexy in the kitchen. — Marc Jacobs

Even mistakes can get you one step further. — Marc Jacobs

I don't throw cell phones. I don't hurt people, I only hurt myself. — Marc Jacobs

Change is a great and horrible thing, and people love it or hate it at the same time. Without change, however, you just don't move. — Marc Jacobs

Creativity in any form stimulates creativity in every form, music, arts, literature ... I find inspiration in anything. It's all the same. — Marc Jacobs

As far back as I can remember, I had an interest in fashion. I used to go to sleepaway camp, and they'd provide a list of things that you had to bring, and I always wanted to be a bit more creative than the list allowed. Like, if they required chinos, I wanted to hand-paint them. — Marc Jacobs

I love to design for women, it's really open and very free. I always think of my friends. I think of both fictitious characters, real people from the past and the present. I am not a woman, but I find women so beautiful and so fascinating. — Marc Jacobs

I think something happens with age. And I find this really a lot in what I read from certain art critics: For people who are all about change-people who are supposed to be intellectually and culturally drawn to the idea of change and how the voice of a creative person affects the world on a bigger scale than just the canvas-I would expect a person in that position to have that open mind. It's only a sign of age that they become so locked in their own rules that they forget that this is what it's all about. — Marc Jacobs

I always say that I'm not the director, I'm part of the team. — Marc Jacobs

Sometimes I miss hamburgers, I should say that. I miss the tuna pizzas at Mercer Kitchen. — Marc Jacobs

I am a perfect being in a perfect world. — Marc Jacobs

I don't think there is just one Louis Vuitton woman. That is why, for the fall/winter 2011 show, I loved the idea of lots of different characters - a wife, a mistress, a girlfriend - stepping out of the row of hotel elevators. — Marc Jacobs

I am really glad to be working at the profession that I love. — Marc Jacobs

I don't need to be better than anybody or worse than anybody to feel better about myself. I just need to stick on my own path and stay in the moment as best I can. — Marc Jacobs

I remember walking the dog one day, I saw a car full of teenage girls, and one of them rolled down the window and yelled, 'Marc Jacobs!' in a French accent. — Marc Jacobs

I wouldn't know how to find eBay on the computer if my life depended on it. — Marc Jacobs

I love the gym, but I still want to look a bit awkward at it. I don't want to look too on top of it, you know? — Marc Jacobs

Basically, I'm in a kilt and a white shirt every day. So, you know, I don't have a lot of scope, and I'm really picky about what I wear. Even if it's weird, it's very particular to me. And you can't make a business out of what I would wear. We'd be out of business. — Marc Jacobs

For people that don't have any interest in the psychology of nuance, who need everything to be in their face, who don't want to analyze ... those aren't the people I romanticize about dressing. — Marc Jacobs

What's worked for me is not quitting and being passionate about what I do and not giving up - and when I don't believe in myself, turning to others who believe in me. — Marc Jacobs

My grandmother was amazing. She completely believed in me and was very encouraging. She would go to the supermarket or the butcher or wherever and tell people, 'My grandson is going to be the next Calvin Klein.' — Marc Jacobs

Luxury is anything you don't need, right? I mean, you need food, water, clothing, shelter ... but good wine, good food, beautiful interiors, nice clothes; those aren't necessities, they are luxuries - it's all luxury. — Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs is full of creative people and Louis Vuitton is again a name on the door, a name that has existed for many years but I'm a collaborator there and I bring in other people, other artists and I work with a great creative design team. — Marc Jacobs

When you see a fashion show, you see those seven minutes of what was six months of tedious work of, you know, going up an inch and down an inch, changing it from one shade of red to another shade of red. So it's the same as any creative process. The result is what we see, but the process is really labor intensive and work. — Marc Jacobs

Happy, happy fashion. There is not much more to it than that. — Marc Jacobs

I go to the gym every morning for a couple of hours, then I come to work, whatever is on the plate for the day, I do it. I don't ask many questions, I go where I am told to. — Marc Jacobs

But the customer is the final, final filter. What survives the whole process is what people wear. I'm not interested in making clothes that end up in some dusty museum. — Marc Jacobs

Part of the talent of any company is to surround yourself with people who have good spirit and help you do more and more things. — Marc Jacobs

Anyone who thinks designers don't talk to editors, and editors don't talk to stores doesn't know what's happening ... It's called crossover, sampling all references in music, art and fashion. — Marc Jacobs

That was a time when I did love music, I couldn't get enough of what was going on. Maybe it was Nirvana that brought me back. I guess it was a comfort because something that sounded so right - and non-commercial - had become so influential, so immediately. — Marc Jacobs

I don't want to sound too silly or pretentious about this, but, you know, I love being in Paris. I love working at Louis Vuitton. I love fashion. That's why I do it. No one's forcing me to do this. And nobody forces anyone to buy it. It's a real love affair. — Marc Jacobs

We're developing things, but I don't know what we'll go with for the show, so I don't like to talk about it. — Marc Jacobs

I'm not a yogi, but I know the sun salutation. — Marc Jacobs

I value very much the time before the show, when there is nothing else but to concentrate on the show, and it's just purely design. — Marc Jacobs

Let's do what we love and do a lot of it. — Marc Jacobs

My opinion about myself is so based on what other people think of me. — Marc Jacobs

It's the things that aren't accepted as conventionally beautiful that I find more attractive. — Marc Jacobs

Young girls need to learn that sexiness isin't about being naked. — Marc Jacobs

There is a small world of people who are very interested in contemporary art and a slightly bigger world of people who look at contemporary art. But then there is a much larger world that doesn't realise how influential art is on things that they actually look at. — Marc Jacobs

I don't think, 'Gee, I'd like to dress this person.' There was a picture in Us magazine. It was a jersey dress, and Courtney Love was wearing it. I have this thing about Courtney Love, this funny worship. — Marc Jacobs

I love the entire ritual of getting dressed. When we do a fashion show, we try to send out a message; we couldn't do that without the hair and makeup. The whole is equal to the sum of its parts. — Marc Jacobs

There is never a wrong time for a polka dot. — Marc Jacobs

No one ever said 'no' to me about anything. No one ever told me anything was wrong. Never. No one ever said, 'You can't be a fashion designer.' No one ever said, 'You're a boy and you can't take tap-dancing lessons.' No one ever said, 'You're a boy and you can't have long hair.' — Marc Jacobs

I like to take on the thing I don't like at the moment. I like to find something that looks wrong or feels off, something that I would never have done in the past, like brocade. And then all of a sudden, if we can make brocade work, then we've really done something, because I hate it. And that's just a reference. I don't actually hate brocade. — Marc Jacobs

I used to buy good shoes, now I buy good bags. They make me feel more confident. — Marc Jacobs

I really do believe that art changes the landscape of the world. — Marc Jacobs

I don't think there is ever a wrong time for a polka dot. — Marc Jacobs

Life is a fashion show, the world is your runway. — Marc Jacobs

I guess when I look over my shoulder at other designers, I feel like people are so definitive. It's so clear to me what their aesthetic is, what they're projecting. And I look at my own work and I think, Who could ever decipher what the hell is going on? — Marc Jacobs

I don't love Photoshop; I like imperfection. It doesn't mean ugly. I love a girl with a gap between her teeth, versus perfect white veneers. Perfection is just ... boring. Perfect is what's natural or real; that is beauty. — Marc Jacobs

I always find beauty in things that are odd & imperfect - they are much more interesting. — Marc Jacobs

I still appreciate individuality. Style is much more interesting than fashion, really. — Marc Jacobs

I am Marc Jacobs by birth, but we are Marc Jacobs by the company that we built. — Marc Jacobs

A sellout is putting your name on any piece of crap and then expecting people to buy it because it's got your name on it. That's what a sellout is to me. — Marc Jacobs

I always say I lived my life with my grandmother. She was emotionally stable, and she was very encouraging to me. — Marc Jacobs

I don't believe in fashion dictatorship, and I find that anybody who follows the dictates of fashion is a bit lost. I'm excited by style, not so much by fashion. — Marc Jacobs

We live in a world where people are really hungry for information, and they're not hungry for information on subjects that they're not interested in. — Marc Jacobs

I like people who have a sense of individuality. I love expression and anything awkward and imperfect, because that's natural and that's real. — Marc Jacobs

Grunge is a hippied romantic version of punk. — Marc Jacobs

Sephora's business is really smart and clever - I'm all for anything that gets people up and out and into the social experience of shopping. — Marc Jacobs

Sephora is a mecca for cosmetics, and it supports what I enjoy: You go into the store, and touch it, and try it, and love it. I've never bought anything on the Internet. I like experience. — Marc Jacobs

I believe that anything can be for men or women. I mean, I've worn a lace dress before! — Marc Jacobs

I love my life. I can't believe I work in New York and Paris. That I work for Louis Vuitton. That I work for Marc Jacobs. It seems really weird every time I say my full name - like, that's me, and every time I hear the receptionist say my name, it's still weird. — Marc Jacobs

Whether it's an $11 flip-flop or a $2 key ring or a $2,000 dress, they're all done with integrity. They're all done with a design sense. As long as the creativity exists, then I don't think it's a sellout. A sellout is putting your name on any piece of crap and then expecting people to buy it because it's got your name on it. — Marc Jacobs

I'm a designer. I make clothes and bags and shoes. I have a job that involves making creative choices, but I'm not a divinely inspired human being like an artist! — Marc Jacobs

I'd like to believe that the women who wear my clothes are not dressing for other people, that they're wearing what they like and what suits them. It's not a status thing. — Marc Jacobs

For so many years, I felt so insecure, so inferior, and I still have those moments, but I have a newfound confidence since I got in shape and changed my diet. — Marc Jacobs

I always find it kind of embarrassing, kind of funny, and kind of exciting. In New York I'm recognized a lot, although nobody says anything. You know, they stare at you just a second too long. But in Paris it's not as commonplace to be recognized. — Marc Jacobs

I'm useless at staring at a piece of white paper. But if you put a piece of white paper with a black line on it in front of me, I'll say no that black line should be red and it should go this way or that way. — Marc Jacobs

I've been openly gay since I can remember. — Marc Jacobs

I don't see myself as being as big of an influence as other people seem to think. — Marc Jacobs

I do think that in order for a company to be interesting to the investment community, there needs to be a plan; there needs to be a bigger retail footprint. There needs to be this idea - DNA, lifestyle, words I hate. — Marc Jacobs

My mind absorbs things in a funny way. I'm on planes quite a bit and I always take stacks and stacks of magazines and I go through them and tear pages out and fold them up, and they get stuck at the bottom of my backpack or whatever. — Marc Jacobs

Without any kind of real ego on my part, I just thought, I'm going to approach the people I admire and see if they want to do something together. — Marc Jacobs

I love attention. — Marc Jacobs

Sofia is so active, and she made The Virgin Suicides, which I thought was great - all these things are inspiring to me, not in terms of creating a particular dress, but just in terms of knowing that there is this type of woman out there. — Marc Jacobs

Sometimes, you just have to clear your head and get out to see other things. It is very important to be nourished. I love to go to museums and galleries, I like to see theatre, film, dance - anything creative. It doesn't promise you inspiration, but it nourishes your creative soul, and that's good. — Marc Jacobs

I love attention, I'm very honest about it ... [but] if I wanna wear a pink dress or a lace dress or a kilt of whatever, it's like I'm not solely doing it for attention, I'm doing it first for myself because it gives me pleasure. — Marc Jacobs

I like characters. I like spirited characters whether they exist in fiction or real life. Whether they're the invention of artistic people or directors, musicians. I think music and art and fashion designers inspire me and I like characters. — Marc Jacobs

I hate this idea that you have to love somebody because they are your family. Nobody can tell me what I'm supposed to feel and who I am supposed to feel it for. — Marc Jacobs

I've learned a lot about doing accessories and making shoes and handbags. I don't think my perspective has really changed. The subtlety of understanding yarns, what makes a fabric what it is - I've learned technical skills and more about the craft. — Marc Jacobs

I think of many people and no one as a muse. I love the way Sofia looks always, and I love the way Kim looks always. Fashion may be part of their world, but it's not their whole life. It's not everything. — Marc Jacobs

But in another, I think a woman's going to go into a shop to find a coat or a jacket and I just don't think she's not going to go into a shop because of a bad review she probably didn't even read. — Marc Jacobs

I think journalists have the right to their opinions but I think their opinions should be based on history and what they see, not what they feel, how long they've been waiting or whether it's raining or it's snowing or whatever. — Marc Jacobs

Living in the past or living in the future - those aren't real. The moment is now, and that's where safety and comfort and all that good stuff is. — Marc Jacobs

To me, beauty and makeup and color is like the finishing touch on everything. — Marc Jacobs

Fashion isn't a necessity. It pulls at your heart. It's a whim. You don't need it. You want it. — Marc Jacobs

I like the sort of 'nothingness' of the jeans and the T-shirt. I feel that's about as close as I can get to the future because it seems like something so old that will always be, so I feel it's a safe bet for the future. — Marc Jacobs

The red carpet doesn't interest me. I think people become all the same; it's like everyone posing from the three-quarter angle in some low-cut, fitted dress; it's all the same. — Marc Jacobs

I never cared about buying things for myself, like clothes. And then all of a sudden I realized how great it is to be very precise about the shirts that I wear and all the things that are a part of my closet. So the ritual of fashion and shopping became very personal to me. — Marc Jacobs

I think beauty is youth; it's energy. I'm attracted to imperfection, style, confidence, and experimentation. So beauty, to me, is really a lot of things. It's kind of unexpected-what surprises you. — Marc Jacobs

I go through phases where I buy only Speed Stick and Axe, and Noxzema shaving cream. — Marc Jacobs

Awkwardness gives me great comfort. I've never been cool, but I've felt cool. I've been in the cool place, but I wasn't really cool - I was trying to pass for hip or cool. It's the awkwardness that's nice. — Marc Jacobs