From porn star boyfriends to gender-bending looks, we run down some of the Vuitton designer’s unforgettable style moments. Happy 50th birthday, Marc!

Turning the big 50 today, Marc Jacobs proves more fair and fabulous than ever, flaunting rock-hard abs with his porn star partner on a Rio de Janeiro beach via Instagram. Bow down, Karl Lagerfeld: Jacobs is the ultimate ugly duckling turned swan.

Not only has this previously bespectacled geek headed up two signature lines, served as creative director for power house Louis Vuitton since 1997, but over the last decade he’s managed to morph himself into a successful model, celeb, and all-round playa. True to fashion, Jacobs has never stopped experimenting and cavorting with the boundaries of taste… Here are our 6 unforgettable looks from our fave self-made birthday boy:

1. Just plain ol’ nudity

Stripping down in the name of Diet Coke, Louis Vuitton, and his own perfume brand, Jacobs has literally lived the saying, “Less is more.”  And we do mean that literally.

2. Make-up

Parading a palette from Sephora glam to Lady Gaga-like spooky, only Jacobs could make a classic red lip and facial hair look this good. Why should girls have all the fun, right? And when in doubt, accessorise with (1).

3. All dressed up

Given that his 2011 Halloween costume ball in Provincetown, Massachusetts was the stuff of legends, it’s no wonder that Jacobs is no stranger to the dressing-up cupboard. You have to wonder how he walked around in that giant cameltoe, though.

4. The power skirt

Who should we blame for Kanye West’s much-mocked Givenchy leather skirt? Probably Marc, who’s been snapped wearing skirts as a casual, daytime look since the late 2000s. But unlike Kanye, who tried to ban pictures of his skirt, Marc doesn’t care about what people think. And as a result, he’s probably the only man who could pull off a Scottish kilt with leather gladiator sandals.

5. Just dresses, period. 

‘Nuff said.

6. Boytoy accessory

You’re here, you’re queer and we love you for it. And your cute boyfriend too. There’s a 25 year age gap between Jacobs and Harry Louis, his Brazilian porn star boyfriend – which makes Jacobs the ultimate cougar, right? Between their adorable Instagram feed and paparazzi photos of them frolicking on Rio beaches, we’ve got serious relationship envy.

Words: Christine Jun