Marc Jacobs

At the "Louis Vuitton-Marc Jacobs" exhibition, pictured, I learn that Vuitton a clever industrialist during the 19th century : He designed the first waterproof, transportable and fashionable travel trunks when High Society, especially women, moved between European capitals for the social calender.  They demanded baggages suitably stylish for their ballgowns and frocks.

Fast forward to now : LV caters to the same jet-set with advertising that promotes impossibly beautiful , obscenely rich,  women in their mid- to late 20s wearing colourful, powerful, in-your-face kind of clothes (the trunks BTW replaced with LV handbags). The  change occurred when Mark Jacobs became LV's creative director in 1997, which ruffled a few feathers since Jacobs an American overseeing one of France's most important brands.  Jacobs on his clothes: "what I prefer is that even if someone feels hedonistic, they don't look it. Curiosity about sex is much more interesting to me than domination. ... My clothes are not hot. Never. Never."

The dude knows what he is talking about. Jacobs is on  Time Magazine's "2010 Time 100" list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and ranked 12th on Out Magazine's 2011 list of "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America".