Marc Jacobs has brought the curtain down on another Paris fashion week and more significantly on 16 years as artistic director at Louis Vuitton, during which he has turned the label into the world's most valuable fashion brand.

Its parent company, LVMH, confirmed his exit from the brand but was at pains to stress that he was not leaving the conglomerate entirely – it still owns a majority stake in his Marc Jacobs label.

Jacobs was never going to go quietly, and before the show began rumours of an emotional swan song hung heavy in Paris. Although guests were told on entering the show space that this was a "celebration not a retrospective", few believed it. The set immediately read like a greatest hits showcase featuring extravagant details from Louis Vuitton shows past – a lift shaft, a carousel, escalators, a full-scale fountain, a catwalk made of lambskin in the house's damier check.

The Arnault family, who own the luxury goods house, gave the designer a solemn standing ovation.

This was a show about emotion, not clothes. A huge train station clock (used in a previous show), which hung at the back of the catwalk, struck 10am and started to tick backwards as the show progressed.

To rousing music a model wearing a sheer bodystocking decorated with the famous Stephen Sprouse graffiti for the label appeared sporting a huge black feathered headpiece. Then came a succession of models all dressed in black wearing headdresses. This could only be read as showgirls in mourning.

Marc Jacobs takes a bow. Photograph: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

The show notes were dedicated to all the women who inspire Jacobs and rather dramatically to "the showgirl in all of us". The final sentence was an outright acknowledgment of his business partners: "For Robert Duffy and Bernard Arnault, all my love, always."

Backstage immediately after the show, Jacobs would not be drawn on whether this was his grand exit. He said: "I don't know. Who knows? Ask them [LVMH]. I always look at every collection as though it were my last." But just two hours later the official confirmation came.

The designer would not be drawn on the black theme at that point, instead saying: "Black to me is the colour of the chicest women in Paris, it's Juliette Gréco, it's Françoise Hardy, it's Édith Piaf in a little black dress, it's the left bank of Paris. It seemed like the chicest way to show all these dazzling textures." The show was a love letter to Paris, to its decorative crafts, and undoubtedly to his time at Louis Vuitton.

While not a shock – it has been the talk of the catwalks for months – the news quickly reverberated across the industry. The British Vogue editor, Alexandra Shulman, said: "Knowing how to exit is just as important as knowing how to make an entrance," and added that it was a "moving last show".

Jacobs is regarded as one of his generation's finest talents with a knack for producing hit after hit, and he made Louis Vuitton, initially renowned only for its luxury if dull travel accessories, a brand with enormous personality. He infused the Parisian house, founded in 1854, with a contemporary relevance and locked it into pop culture with collaborations with artists including Richard Prince and the Chapman brothers. His catwalk extravaganzas, which have included carousels, a working steam train and Kate Moss smoking, have provided the most memorable fashion moments in a generation and have put the brand at the heart of the fashion circus.

A model wears a bodystocking decorated with the label's Stephen Sprouse graffiti. Photograph: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

His media-friendly personality has made him a celebrity beyond fashion circles and his propensity to turn up at high-profile events wearing a black lace dress or his own silk pyjamas with his SpongeBob SquarePants tattoo on display has made the brand feel approachable and warm despite the label's ultra-high-end price tags. Crucially his designs at the label have proved commercial gold dust – the brand is the richest in fashion history, valued last October at £15.1bn.

Jacobs's commercial power has triggered the end of his tenure at Vuitton. He will now concentrate on his own label – in which LVMH holds a majority stake – before a possible public offering. In order to achieve the highest possible valuation at an IPO, having the designer concentrate fully on his own brand is seen as a requirement. Nicolas Ghesquière, the designer who recently left Balenciaga, is rumoured to be the frontrunner to be Jacobs's replacement.

The New York designer was happy to proclaim his love for Louis Vuitton and to celebrate his extraordinarily successful tenure there. Backstage he paraphrased Andy Warhol, saying: "I genuinely believe that feelings are feelings and a love for the superficial is just as deep as love for something less superficial."