We sold a couple Stephen Sprouse for Louis Vuitton pieces recently- and got a ton of emails from some youngsters out there who don't know who Stephen Sprouse is (OK, I'm "only" 35, but still!) For those of you were just toddlers in the 80's and need an introduction, or anyone who just wants a review, here is Stephen Sprouse:

Stephen Sprouse was a fashion designer who was really hot in the 80's. He got his training at the Rhode Island School of Design, although he never finished.

When all his friends were hanging out at the skate park, Sprouse was interning for Bill Blass at the oh so tender age of 14.  Sprouse got his first break when he was just 18, as an assistant to Halston in New York City before he began designing under his own name. With some financial backing from his parents, and a fantastic showing at a contest for up and coming new young designers hosted by Polaroid Corp, Stephen Sprouse Inc. was born! His launch in 1983 really blew everyone away. Folks just ate up his graffitti, New York style bold prints.

He had a rocky career- going in and out of business, but all along the way, had huge and eclectic group of backers who saw his vision: Andy Warhol, Keith Herring, Bergdorf Goodman, Barney's New York, Diesel Jeans, Debbie Harry and finally, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton.

Marc called on Stephen Sprouse to graffiti a line of monogram pieces in 2001.

When asked about the collaboration, he had this to say about Sprouse:

"...it was kind of an homage. This may sound silly, but one of my major artistic references is a work by Marcel Duchamp called L.H.O.O.Q. You know, Mona Lisa with a moustache. Asking Stephen Sprouse to draw graffiti on the Monogram was going as far as Duchamp did when he defaced a classic work. As though doing this made the original stronger, cooler, energetic and punky. That may seem daring, but in fact it was a kind of collaboration that showed how much we loved the Monogram. This collaboration was fantastic." Marc Jacobs, The Genius of a Style.

This says it all: Why we love the Graffiti line, why we love Marc and why Sprouse was perfect for the job!

The scarf that we sold above was introduced in a collaboration between Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton and Stephen Sprouse in 2001. The Graffiti line was a huge success and sold out immediately.

Stephen Sprouse passed away in New York City at age 50 in 2004. He had been battling lung cancer for years.

His designs are timeless.

Marc Jacobs revisited the Sprouse collaboration in 2006 when he brought back Stephen's 1987 Leopard Graffiti design. We sold a scarf from that line pictured below...

Here is Mischa Barton wearing that scarf in a different color:

Wanna read more?  Here's a great NY Mag article on Sprouse with some cool little inside stories!

(credit: Knoll Textiles for the cool SS pics! Sprouse designed incredible textiles for Knoll, and Knoll has been generous enough to maintain a photobank of great pictures! Check them out!!!

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Tags: graffiti, keepall, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Mischa Barton, Stephen Sprouse

This entry was posted on Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Stephen Sprouse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.