Sprouse, Stephen

▪ 2005

      American fashion designer and artist (b. Sept. 12, 1953, Ohio—d. March 4, 2004, New York, N.Y.), made a splash on the fashion scene in the early 1980s with creations that sported Day-Glo colours, mirrored sequins, and Velcro attachments, and his designs commanded high prices in vintage stores even after he lost financial backing for his business. He was 14 years old when he began sketching for designer Bill Blass, and in the 1980s Sprouse worked with Andy Warhol on a collection inspired by Warhol's “Camouflage” series of paintings. Sprouse reemerged in the 1990s, but it was his 2001–02 graffiti-motif clothing (for Target) and handbags (for Louis Vuitton) that fueled his reputation as a design pioneer. Sprouse also clothed a former neighbour—Debbie Harry of Blondie.

* * *