Stephen Sprouse
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Stephen Sprouse (September 12, 1953 - March 4, 2004) was a fashion designer, artist, and photographer credited with pioneering the 1980s mix of "uptown sophistication in clothing with a downtown punk and pop sensibility" [1] (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/05/nyregion/05SPRO.html?ex=1079473370&ei=1&en=74207fc16a1eef36).
His bright, fun fashions wowed fans, but he had mixed business success. His first two collections (1983 and 1984) were huge hits, but he was out of business from 1985 to 1987. In 1987, he opened shops in New York and Los Angeles, but he lacked financial backing and closed down again from 1988 to 1992. Despite such ups and downs, Sprouse's talent was so admired that his designs continued to fetch high prices in vintage stores long after he stopped producing the clothes.
In 1992, he designed a line for Bergdorf Goodman. In 1995, Barney's New York handled the production of an exclusive Sprouse line. The graffiti logo bags he designed in collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton made the fashion world take notice. In 2002, he created a collection of tank tops, skateboards and swimsuits for the Target discount chain.
He designed clothes for Blondie's Debbie Harry (his one-time downstairs neighbour). He worked extensively with the band Duran Duran at the end of the 1980s -- he designed the clothes for their 1989 tour for the album Big Thing, as well as the covers for their 1989 greatest hits album Decade and their best-selling 1993 album Duran Duran, and he painted giant canvases that hung behind the band during their performance on the MTV Unplugged show.
In the late '80s, he collaborated with Andy Warhol in designing a line of clothing based on Warhol's "Camouflage" series of paintings.
He died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City of heart failure, after a closely-guarded diagnosis of lung cancer a year before. He was 50.
Related links
External link
- Stephen Sprouse Official site (http://stephensprouse.com/)
- New York Times, March 5, 2004 "Stephen Sprouse, Design Pioneer, Dies at 50", by William Norwich (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/05/nyregion/05SPRO.html?ex=1079473370&ei=1&en=74207fc16a1eef36)
- Obituary in Traverse City Record Eagle, his Michigan home town newspaper (http://www.record-eagle.com/2004/mar/15obits.htm)