Stephen Sprouse (September 12, 1953 - March 4, 2004) was a fashion designer and artist credited with pioneering the 1980s mix of "uptown sophistication in clothing with a downtown punk and pop sensibility...
Stephen Sprouse's initial Day-Glo bright, sixties-inspired, graffiti-printed fashion collections for men and women wowed fashion editors, store buyers, and fashionistas alike, but he always had mixed business success. 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 HenriBendel in New York
The graffiti logo bags he designed in collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton in 2001 made the fashion world take notice once again. The pieces sold-out instantly
For Fall 2006, Marc Jacobs utilized Sprouse's 1987 graffiti leopard images for handbags, shoes, and scarves for Louis Vuitton, which sold-out instantly.
Stephen died at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City of heart failure, after a closely guarded diagnosis of lung cancer. He was 50
The Stephen Sprouse Book
Written and complied by Mauricio and Roger Padilha, the brothers of MAO, the famed fashion public relations firm (think the BLONDS and Charles Chang Lima) and the geniuses behind the downtown’s favorite indie MAO mag.
