Fashion Icon: Stephen Sprouse

I was at a party last year and this fabulous queen came up to me and said:

"Stephen Sprouse"

"What?"

"You remind me of Stephen Sprouse." 

I immediately felt dumb because I like to think I know about every designer there was but this name was completely foreign to me.   So being the "know-it-all" I am I started researching.  Stephen Sprouse started his design career in the 70s at Halston but then started making outfits for his neighbor Debbie Harry of Blondie.  He took off from there.  He is the 1st designer to mix graffiti and punk (street culture as I like to call it) with fashion.  He is known as "The Day-Glo King." His career spanned and defined the 80s and the 90s fashion as we know it. For our generation his most notable work is his graffiti collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton.  Here are some of my favorite images of his work:

Space travelers

Graffiti sequins...what could be better?

Beautiful Blondie...the Muse

LV's best selling collection

*All images of Sprouse's work found at: http://www.stephensprousebook.com/*

There is a book about his life and work called "The Stephen Sprouse Book" by Roger Padhila & Mauricio Padhila.  The release date is January 13, 2009 and it is available online for pre-orders via Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobel.  

And...there's a limited addition book available at Louis Vuitton boutiques worldwide:

AND...there's a retrospect of Stephen Sprouse's work opening in NY on Friday, January 9th from 6 to 9pm (running until February 28th) called "Rock on Mars" at:

Deitch Projects

18 Wooster St

NY, NY

AND...A new collection from Louis Vuitton launching on the same day as the retrospect commemorating Sprouse:

Marc Jacobs in January's Harper's Bazaar 

(Photo by: Terry Richardson, found on WWD.com)

Stephen Sprouse died tragically at the age of 50 in 2004.  Which is the year I first came to NY...am I picking up where he left off?  I plan to.

Until then, I am SPROUSE,

Chay$