Stephen Sprouse might just be one of the greatest art, rock and fashion artists of who has ever walked the streets of New York. Now you could say much about his collections, important dates and years for him as a fashion designer, but to write an almost academic article about an amazing talent would be to far from telling an impressive enough summary of this fascinating life, which started in 1953 Ohio, and ended in 2004 New York.
Did you know that Andy Warhol was buried in a Sprouse suit? Did you know that one of our greatest fashion photographers, Steven Meisel, was a close friend of Sprouse – and was the fact the one who advised him to start designing clothes?
He was the first fashion designer to make a transsexual model catwalk for him? He designed several album covers? He shared a bathroom and kitchen with Debbie Harry? He was gay? There is a book called “The book of Stephen Sprouse” which was published in 2009, in his “newfound” buzz after the Louis Vuitton re-launch of the previous collaboration?
That he called Edie Sedgwick the Kate Moss of the sixties?
Do you have the “impressed Goosebumps” yet? Yes? No?
These are just a few fun facts from a long list. Who can helped get mighty impressed when reading that he stayed off drugs and alcohol for many years, even in probably the heaviest drug environment there was in the eighties, harvesting good critics from both fashion editors, retailers, buyers and celebrities. When you study his artwork, a mixture of Sprouse signature, fashion inspired by punk, a bit rock and roll graffiti, futuristic and intelligent artwork from an artist who seemed to have close relationship with every it-personality in NY at the time, and being able to contribute as an artist, designer and rock icon on so many different levels and environments, making them one?
To most people, after reading twenty something articles about Sprouse and his work, it seems like many people have the same impression, this romantic view of a troubled artist, with a childish charm and huge heart, breaking barriers and being way ahead of his time, with a huge potential in every scene he wanted to be in.
Music influenced his art in a heavy sort of way, with portraits of. Iggy Pop, styling of Duran Duran and several album cover designs. His take on punk has been described as more glamorous, than the in the more “hardcore” London scene, and his personal style was rock and roll all the way though.
There are so many collections and breakthroughs, which should be mentioned during 600 words, like his tremendous success during 1983-1985 with his collection, called Cyber-Punk, which got an enormous coverage by media at the time. His clothes has been described as a 1980’s mix of “uptown sophistication in clothing with a downtown punk and pop sensibility”, and is to this day highly priced collectors items, rarely found on e-bay or a vintage shop.
Even if there’s no doubt that Sprouse was popular, intelligent and talented, he also had large financial problems. After working for Halston a few years, he got the taste of highly priced garments and textiles, and might be one of the reasons why Spouse is not better known for his fashion designing today. He had several clothing projects that resulted in a dead-end because of financial problems. His pieces were overpriced for his young target-group, even if he was a favorite in the NY press. A friend and fellow fashion colleague of Sprouse said “He was a shooting star, he shined bright, but only for a short period of time” and every word written about Sprouse points in the direction that his artwork and influence on the NY punk scene is the same as Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren had in London with “Sex”.
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