Marc Jacobs Talks Porn Stars, Louis Vuitton & Hook-Up Apps

Photo by Richard Phibbs for Paper

It's almost impossible to overstate Marc Jacob's impact on fashion. The man's truly a visionary and an iconoclast. He also isn't shy. If you remember those ads for his fragrance Bang or Diet Coke or the 11 million other times he's been shot in the buff, you begin to understand that he isn't afraid to let it all hang out. Now, a good year after he left his post of creative director for Louis Vuitton (a job he held for 16 years), he's celebrating 30 years of his own eponymous label.

Jacobs sat down with Paper magazine's editorial director, Mickey Boardman, for a riveting and insightful interview. We've picked out some gems, but you can read the whole thing here.

SLIDESHOW | Marc Jacobs in Out magazine

Jacobs on Louis Vuitton and its new creative director:

I had a hard time looking at it at first. I think I got pretty down and depressed, but I love what Nicolas [Ghesquiere] does. I really admire him and I have really great respect for him. I think they wanted a change, and I think the change they made is really good. It would be worse if somebody was doing a similar thing to me. But Nicolas does his thing, and I think it looks good and I get it. So I don't have any problem with it.

On his idol, Yves Saint Laurent:

I love the world that Saint Laurent created and the people that surrounded him and worked with him. Since I was very young I have always been probably much more interested in European fashion than American fashion, for the most part, and Saint Laurent was one of those early names that I learned as a kid. Of course, since then I have learned a lot more names, and there are people I admire, but they all have that kind of thing in common. There is something very believable and wearable, but it doesn't change the fact that they were creative and they had a vision and a voice, or that they made a world that reflects their aesthetic, and that there are people around them that reflect that aesthetic. There is a kind of ambience, an aura. There's a mystique.

On porn stars:

I've never really thought about it. Sexy people are great. People who love sex are great. I guess I've met a few. I've dated one. Or two... I don't know. Porn is really exciting and sexy. It's funny -- I've never actively sought a porn star, but I must attract them in some way! When I was with [ex-boyfriend / porn star] Harry Louis, he wasn't the person in the movies. I had never seen his movies before I met him. I only saw his movies after I got to know him, and he definitely wasn't that person.

On hook up apps [he used a face pic, like a champ]:

I went on Grindr a couple of times. Well actually, with Harry, he was like, "Let's do a profile on Grindr." And I did, and I met a couple people.

On his strict work out routine and posing nude:

I was miserable for the first year -- but I started to see the results, and anything that makes me feel good I do more of! That's the nature of addiction, and I'm totally an addict in that respect. If I enjoy something, I want more of it. More sex, more food, more art, more sleep, more... whatever it is! So once I got into the habit of eating well and got over the initial pain and discomfort of going to the gym, I got really into it. Then I started to see a physical change. I stopped wearing my glasses, I cut my hair, I started to tan. Of course my ego sort of got into it. Mert and Marcus were doing this book that Vuitton sponsored, and it was nudes. So we got in the studio, and it was really right in the beginning when I went from 20 percent body fat to 8 percent body fat, and I was looking fit and tan and short hair, and they said, "Well, we want to shoot you nude," and I said OK. Then it sort of seemed like every time I was asked to do a picture for anyone they would be like, "Will you take your shirt off? Will you take your clothes off?" I finally felt like, for the first time in my life I'm comfortable. I'm just as comfortable naked as I am covering up.