Stephen Sprouse
Encyclopedia
Stephen Sprouse was a fashion designer and artist
credited with pioneering the 1980s mix of "uptown sophistication in clothing with a downtown punk and pop sensibility" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/05/nyregion/05SPRO.html?ex=1079473370&ei=1&en=74207fc16a1eef36.
-printed fashion collections for men and women caught the attention of fashion editors, store buyers, and fashionistas
, garnering much media coverage. His initial collections (1983–1985) were huge critical hits, sold at only the best stores (his 1983 collections were sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman
and Henri Bendel
in New York City on a small scale). To much surprise in the fashion and retail communities, Sprouse declared bankruptcy in June 1985 (even though his base of influential fashion editors and high-end stores were firmly in place). Sprouse cited production, late deliveries, and financial problems in an interview with Womens Wear Daily shortly after he closed his initial business.
Sprouse informally showed a Fall 1985 collection to buyers and the press at his new showroom in Union Square on Broadway
- the last location of Andy Warhol
's infamous "Factory" lofts. A runway presentation at Club USA in NYC was initially planned (and largely promoted) for its grand opening. Subsequently, the show was cancelled; a Stephen Sprouse Incorporated representative stated at the time that the show was cancelled due to the company relocating to their new Union Square location. The apparel shown were "finished samples."
Sprouse referred to his Fall 1985 collection as being "more hippie
weird" and early seventies-inspired, with bell-bottom trousers, psychedelic prints, and maxi skirts, but the company lacked the funds and staff to produce the apparel.
Sprouse was initially noted by fashion magazines and retailers for using high-quality, expensive, custom-dyed fabrics (his woolens were largely sourced by the high-end Italian textile house Agnona). Sprouse personally did the graffiti
that adorned many of his very early, expensive garments (1983, early 1984), which added to their desirability.
In September 1987, with financial backing from high-end furniture manufacturer Knoll International
(then known as GFI/General Felt Industries), Sprouse opened a three-level store on Wooster Street in New York City; a second (smaller) store was opened in Los Angeles in the spring of 1988 at the Beverly Center shopping complex. He partly abandoned his signature sixties silhouettes, instead drawing inspiration from the mid-seventies London-based punk rock
scene. For his Fall 1987 and Spring 1988 collections, he was given permission to use one of Andy Warhol
's "Camouflage" screen-prints to utilize as textile designs (Sprouse created a secondary print, based on Warhol's original). For his Fall 1988 "Signature" collection, he collaborated with artist Keith Haring
to create several abstract
prints of Jesus with graffiti
, and Haring's "squibbles." His company, CSI ({Andrew} Cogan Sprouse Incorporated) also wholesaled the various collections ("Stephen Sprouse," "Sprouse," and "S") to retailers (commencing with his Spring 1988 collection), but he lost his financial backing due to production due to poor sales and production/quality issues, closing again in December 1988, shortly after the company shipped their "Holiday" line.
In 1992, Sprouse designed an exclusive men's and women's "capsule collection" (i.e.: 32 pieces in whole) for Bergdorf Goodman
, dubbed "CyberPunk," which featured Velcro
in lieu of traditional buttons. Sprouse (again) largely sourced custom made textiles from Agnona for his fall 1992 collection. The production of the collection was done entirely on a couture
level, leading to extremely high-priced garments (e.g.: $500 for a pair of men's nylon
underwear - that being one of the lowest priced items available). Bergdorf Goodman
sold the line for two seasons (Fall 1992 & Spring 1993), with very limited success, despite wide media coverage, and featuring Sprouse's garments in their window displays.
Sprouse showed a collection ("CyberGlitter") at Club USA in NYC for Fall 1993, but it never went into full production, despite orders being placed from retail buyers.
In 1995, Barneys New York
handled the production of an exclusive women's spring/summer line. Vogue
magazine featured the moderately priced garments in its pages, but it sold poorly. That same year, Sprouse also served as the costume curator for the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in Cleveland, and designed the staff's uniforms.
In 1996, Sprouse Designed the logo and cover for New York Glam outfit Psychotica
's self titled album, released under American records.
In 1998, with full production and backing from Italian manufacturer Staff International, he was briefly back in business, but the clothes sold poorly and were largely ignored by the fashion press and retailers that adored him in the 1980s.
Despite such ups and downs, Sprouse's apparel is still coveted - his clothing continues to fetch high prices in vintage stores and online (e.g.: eBay) for his most iconic pieces.
The graffiti logo bags he designed in collaboration with Marc Jacobs
for Louis Vuitton
in 2001 made the fashion world take notice once again.
In 2002, he created a vast collection of men's and women's apparel, home accessories, sports gear, etc. for the Target
discount chain (dubbed "AmericaLand") - mostly rendered in a graffiti
patriotic motif.
In 2003 Sprouse collaborated with fashion brand Diesel on a take over of its Union Square Store for September's ashion Weekin New York. As part of the collaboration, Sprouse designed a series of limited edition jeans, t-shirts and hats, and made a complete makeover of the Diesel store, which meant adding his renowned Day-Glo design to windows, interiors, and outer building exteriors. At the launch of the event Diesel’s founder and President, Renzo Rosso
. explained the project as "first and foremost a tribute that we wish to pay to one of the most groundbreaking and far-reaching artists of our time, someone who went beyond categorizations, means of expressions, and gender- a common approach at Diesel."
For both Fall 2006 and 2008, Marc Jacobs
utilized Sprouse's 1987 graffiti leopard images for handbags, shoes, and scarves for Louis Vuitton
, which sold-out instantly.
Sprouse designed clothes for Blondie
's Debbie Harry
(his one-time downstairs neighbor in the Bowery section of NYC) in the late 70s/early 80s, prior to becoming a commercial designer. Sprouse worked extensively with the band Duran Duran
in the late 80s, designing the clothes for their 1989 tour for the album Big Thing
, as well as the cover for their greatest hits album Decade: Greatest Hits
of the same year. Additionally, he styled and dressed Billy Idol
in the early 90s for Idol's "comeback" (which garnered little interest).
Sprouse launched himself as a commercial fashion designer when he competed in a fashion show contest of young designers in the spring of 1983 (at the suggestion of photographer and friend Steven Meisel
), sponsored by the Polaroid Corporation
(he previously worked as a design assistant to Halston
in the 1970s for three years). Based upon the favorable editorial reaction he received, he soon after formed his first company, Stephen Sprouse, Inc., and set up a showroom and production space at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, launching his initial commercial collections for retail (prior to this, production of his early 1983 apparel, done on a small scale, was produced by Dianne Phelp's company "Triad").
Sprouse soon formed an in-house production staff for the small runway collection he showed in his silver-painted showroom (in homage to the Andy Warhol Factory loft of the sixties) in December 1983. The show garnered much attention and very favorable reviews (notably from the New York Times Fashion Editor John Duka). Sprouse's subsequent runway show, held at the NYC club The Ritz
in May 2004 was the "must see" show of the season.
Financial backing was provided by his parents, Norbert and Joanne Sprouse, for Sprouse's initial business.
Sprouse 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.
A book on the career of Stephen Sprouse, "The Stephen Sprouse Book", by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha (with a foreword by Tama Janowitz
), was released by Rizzoli
on January 13, 2009.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
credited with pioneering the 1980s mix of "uptown sophistication in clothing with a downtown punk and pop sensibility" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/05/nyregion/05SPRO.html?ex=1079473370&ei=1&en=74207fc16a1eef36.
Career
Stephen Sprouse's initial Day-Glo bright, sixties-inspired, graffitiGraffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
-printed fashion collections for men and women caught the attention of fashion editors, store buyers, and fashionistas
Fashion victim
Fashion victim is a term claimed to have been coined by Oscar de la Renta that is used to identify a person who is unable to identify commonly recognized boundaries of style....
, garnering much media coverage. His initial collections (1983–1985) were huge critical hits, sold at only the best stores (his 1983 collections were sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman....
and Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel is an American upscale women's specialty store based in New York City that sells fashion accessories, cosmetics and fragrances, gifts and gourmet foods...
in New York City on a small scale). To much surprise in the fashion and retail communities, Sprouse declared bankruptcy in June 1985 (even though his base of influential fashion editors and high-end stores were firmly in place). Sprouse cited production, late deliveries, and financial problems in an interview with Womens Wear Daily shortly after he closed his initial business.
Sprouse informally showed a Fall 1985 collection to buyers and the press at his new showroom in Union Square on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
- the last location of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's infamous "Factory" lofts. A runway presentation at Club USA in NYC was initially planned (and largely promoted) for its grand opening. Subsequently, the show was cancelled; a Stephen Sprouse Incorporated representative stated at the time that the show was cancelled due to the company relocating to their new Union Square location. The apparel shown were "finished samples."
Sprouse referred to his Fall 1985 collection as being "more hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
weird" and early seventies-inspired, with bell-bottom trousers, psychedelic prints, and maxi skirts, but the company lacked the funds and staff to produce the apparel.
Sprouse was initially noted by fashion magazines and retailers for using high-quality, expensive, custom-dyed fabrics (his woolens were largely sourced by the high-end Italian textile house Agnona). Sprouse personally did the graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
that adorned many of his very early, expensive garments (1983, early 1984), which added to their desirability.
In September 1987, with financial backing from high-end furniture manufacturer Knoll International
Knoll (company)
Knoll is a design firm that produces office systems, seating, files and storage, tables and desks, textiles , and accessories for office and for the home. The company also manufactures furniture for the home by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll , Frank Gehry, Maya Lin and...
(then known as GFI/General Felt Industries), Sprouse opened a three-level store on Wooster Street in New York City; a second (smaller) store was opened in Los Angeles in the spring of 1988 at the Beverly Center shopping complex. He partly abandoned his signature sixties silhouettes, instead drawing inspiration from the mid-seventies London-based punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene. For his Fall 1987 and Spring 1988 collections, he was given permission to use one of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's "Camouflage" screen-prints to utilize as textile designs (Sprouse created a secondary print, based on Warhol's original). For his Fall 1988 "Signature" collection, he collaborated with artist Keith Haring
Keith Haring
Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...
to create several abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
prints of Jesus with graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
, and Haring's "squibbles." His company, CSI ({Andrew} Cogan Sprouse Incorporated) also wholesaled the various collections ("Stephen Sprouse," "Sprouse," and "S") to retailers (commencing with his Spring 1988 collection), but he lost his financial backing due to production due to poor sales and production/quality issues, closing again in December 1988, shortly after the company shipped their "Holiday" line.
In 1992, Sprouse designed an exclusive men's and women's "capsule collection" (i.e.: 32 pieces in whole) for Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman....
, dubbed "CyberPunk," which featured Velcro
Velcro
Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...
in lieu of traditional buttons. Sprouse (again) largely sourced custom made textiles from Agnona for his fall 1992 collection. The production of the collection was done entirely on a couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
level, leading to extremely high-priced garments (e.g.: $500 for a pair of men's nylon
Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...
underwear - that being one of the lowest priced items available). Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman....
sold the line for two seasons (Fall 1992 & Spring 1993), with very limited success, despite wide media coverage, and featuring Sprouse's garments in their window displays.
Sprouse showed a collection ("CyberGlitter") at Club USA in NYC for Fall 1993, but it never went into full production, despite orders being placed from retail buyers.
In 1995, Barneys New York
Barneys New York
Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. The chain owns large stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, and smaller stores in other locations across the United States.Brands sold include...
handled the production of an exclusive women's spring/summer line. Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
magazine featured the moderately priced garments in its pages, but it sold poorly. That same year, Sprouse also served as the costume curator for the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in Cleveland, and designed the staff's uniforms.
In 1996, Sprouse Designed the logo and cover for New York Glam outfit Psychotica
Psychotica
Psychotica, formed in 1994 by Pat Briggs and Paul "ENA" Kostabi, were a seminal influence in Industrial Goth, releasing 3 albums to mixed reviews and varied success....
's self titled album, released under American records.
In 1998, with full production and backing from Italian manufacturer Staff International, he was briefly back in business, but the clothes sold poorly and were largely ignored by the fashion press and retailers that adored him in the 1980s.
Despite such ups and downs, Sprouse's apparel is still coveted - his clothing continues to fetch high prices in vintage stores and online (e.g.: eBay) for his most iconic pieces.
The graffiti logo bags he designed in collaboration with Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...
for Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier – commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton , or shortened to LV – is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes,...
in 2001 made the fashion world take notice once again.
In 2002, he created a vast collection of men's and women's apparel, home accessories, sports gear, etc. for the Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
discount chain (dubbed "AmericaLand") - mostly rendered in a graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
patriotic motif.
In 2003 Sprouse collaborated with fashion brand Diesel on a take over of its Union Square Store for September's ashion Weekin New York. As part of the collaboration, Sprouse designed a series of limited edition jeans, t-shirts and hats, and made a complete makeover of the Diesel store, which meant adding his renowned Day-Glo design to windows, interiors, and outer building exteriors. At the launch of the event Diesel’s founder and President, Renzo Rosso
Renzo Rosso
Renzo Rosso is an Italian fashion entrepreneur. Referred to as the "Jeans Genius" by Suzy Menkes, he is the founder and President of fashion brand Diesel...
. explained the project as "first and foremost a tribute that we wish to pay to one of the most groundbreaking and far-reaching artists of our time, someone who went beyond categorizations, means of expressions, and gender- a common approach at Diesel."
For both Fall 2006 and 2008, Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...
utilized Sprouse's 1987 graffiti leopard images for handbags, shoes, and scarves for Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier – commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton , or shortened to LV – is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes,...
, which sold-out instantly.
Sprouse designed clothes for Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
's Debbie Harry
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
(his one-time downstairs neighbor in the Bowery section of NYC) in the late 70s/early 80s, prior to becoming a commercial designer. Sprouse worked extensively with the band Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
in the late 80s, designing the clothes for their 1989 tour for the album Big Thing
Big Thing
Big Thing is the fifth album by Duran Duran, released worldwide in 1988. It reached #15 in the UK and #24 in the US.A CD reissue was released in 1994. The album is was reissued as a three disc boxset on .- Background :...
, as well as the cover for their greatest hits album Decade: Greatest Hits
Decade: Greatest Hits
Decade – Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by Duran Duran, released on November 15, 1989 .The remix single "Burning the Ground" was released to radio to promote this album; it was created by producer John Jones mixing snippets of the band's biggest hits from the previous decade into a new...
of the same year. Additionally, he styled and dressed Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
in the early 90s for Idol's "comeback" (which garnered little interest).
Sprouse launched himself as a commercial fashion designer when he competed in a fashion show contest of young designers in the spring of 1983 (at the suggestion of photographer and friend Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
), sponsored by the Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
(he previously worked as a design assistant to Halston
Halston
Roy Halston Frowick, also known as Halston was a clothing designer of the 1970s. His long dresses or copies of his style were popular fashion wear in mid-1970s discotheques.-Early life and career:...
in the 1970s for three years). Based upon the favorable editorial reaction he received, he soon after formed his first company, Stephen Sprouse, Inc., and set up a showroom and production space at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, launching his initial commercial collections for retail (prior to this, production of his early 1983 apparel, done on a small scale, was produced by Dianne Phelp's company "Triad").
Sprouse soon formed an in-house production staff for the small runway collection he showed in his silver-painted showroom (in homage to the Andy Warhol Factory loft of the sixties) in December 1983. The show garnered much attention and very favorable reviews (notably from the New York Times Fashion Editor John Duka). Sprouse's subsequent runway show, held at the NYC club The Ritz
Ritz (rock club)
-History:The Ritz was founded in 1980 by Jerry Brandt on 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. Formerly a ballroom known as Webster Hall, The Ritz still retained some of its previous incarnation's Art Deco style. As a venue, it focused...
in May 2004 was the "must see" show of the season.
Financial backing was provided by his parents, Norbert and Joanne Sprouse, for Sprouse's initial business.
Sprouse died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
of heart failure, after a closely guarded diagnosis of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
a year before. He was 50.
A book on the career of Stephen Sprouse, "The Stephen Sprouse Book", by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha (with a foreword by Tama Janowitz
Tama Janowitz
Tama Janowitz is an American novelist and a short story writer. The 2005 September/October issue of Pages magazine listed her as one of the four "brat pack" authors, along with Bret Easton Ellis, Mark Lindquist and Jay McInerney.-Life:Her parents, a psychiatrist father, Julian Janowitz, and...
), was released by Rizzoli
RCS MediaGroup
RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. , based in Milan and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, is an international multimedia publishing group that operates in daily newspapers, magazines and books, radio broadcasting, new media and digital and satellite TV...
on January 13, 2009.
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