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"FacebookPinterestGetty Images\n\n An era has officially come to an end. After 16 years as Louis Vuitton's creative director, Marc Jacobs is stepping down in order to focus on his own line, Marc Jacobs International, which parent company LVMH hopes to make public \"within three years,\" according to WWD.\n\nLVMH CEO Bernard Arnault sees a lot of potential in Jacobs' brand, and wants the designer and his business partner Robert Duffy to bolster its cachet prior to doing an IPO. As far as who will succeed Marc Jacobs\u2014who held the post since 1997\u2014one of the big names in the running is purported to be Nicolas Ghesqui\u00E9re, who served as Balenciaga's creative director for 15 years before Alexander Wang assumed the mantle.\n\nFor his final womenswear collection at Louis Vuitton, it seems Marc Jacobs took the term \"swan song\" literally. Models walked the runway in festooned, feathery headdresses while the looks incorporated plenty of black with adornments like crystals, lace details, and brocade with pops of rugged fabrics like stonewashed denim and jet-black leather biker jackets. It was a balance of opulence and luxury that was a bit rough-around-the-edges in a good way\u2014sort of like if Jay Z's The Black Album was a fashion collection. Jacobs clearly went out the way he wanted to.\n\nMeanwhile, Kim Jones remains the style director of Louis Vuitton's menswear, and if the strong offerings from his Spring/Summer 2014 collection are any indication, the British designer hasn't lost his stride."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/marc-jacobs-leaves-louis-vuitton>