Marc Jacobs Crossbody Bags and Messenger Bags

Fashion connoisseurs love vintage Marc Jacobs bags. Balancing tradition with innovation, the label is known for its founder’s rebelliousness and authenticity. Jacobs creates ready-to-wear fashion, cosmetics, handbags and accessories, and the brand’s admirers can’t get enough of the bright colors and oversize prints that characterize its offerings. 

Marc Jacobs bags are revered all over the world for their enduring fusion of sophistication and edginess. Some of the label's most well-known and best-selling shoulder bags, crossbody bags and tote bags are the Tote, the Eclipse, the Traveler tote and the Snapshot. A leather Bucket bag is ideal for those in need of a casual and spacious but structured on-the-go accessory, while the Softshot pairs a rounded form with the iconic double-J hardware and a crossbody strap. And although Marc Jacobs handbags are lower in price than those designed by the world’s most well-known luxury purse brands, one of the most sought-after bags is the Carolyn Crocodile handbag, priced at around $30,000.

In 1984, Jacobs and his friend and business partner Robert Duffy launched the Marc Jacobs label. A year later, Jacobs received the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent. In 1997, Jacobs was named the creative director of Louis Vuitton, a position he held until 2014. 

Jacobs pushed Louis Vuitton forward through collaborations with major contemporary artists and designers like Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince and Yayoi Kusama. This cooperative model has become a mainstay of the brand. ​​

The first Louis Vuitton x Murakami bags appeared on the Spring/Summer 2003 runway, accessorizing a parade of Peter Pan–collared day dresses in pastel duchesse satin. The bags, which owed to Jacobs’s conversations with Murakami, were instant icons. The Louis Vuitton x Kusama bags, which were unveiled in 2012, represented Vuitton’s biggest launch to date. Jacobs saw the collab as an opportunity to share Yayoi Kusama's vision with a wider audience.

Bag lovers also covet vintage Marc by Marc Jacobs handbags as well as the accessories that fall under the Heaven line, which launched in 2020. A collaboration with Australian-born Ava Nirui — the art director at Jacobs’s flagship brand — the line comprises bags and other garments and accessories that are aimed at a younger audience and draw on our era’s renewed appreciation for 1990s fashion.  

Find vintage Marc Jacobs quilted bags, clutches, purses and other handbags on 1stDibs.