Although rumors persist that Jacobs will leave Louis Vuitton for Christian Dior, the native New Yorker's aesthetic has become critical to the image of the French fashion house. However, Jacobs, who has been the artistic director of Louis Vuitton since 1997, is just one of many to have helmed the house since it was founded in 1854. When the brand's namesake, who was born in 1821 in eastern France, founded Louis Vuitton in the 19th century, it was initially an inventive luggage company that specialized...