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Indianapolis Museum of Art: ‘Stephen Sprouse: Rock, Art, Fashion’
Preview: ‘Stephen Sprouse: Rock, Art, Fashion’ photographed Monday, July 12, 2022 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis.
Michelle Pemberton, Indianapolis Star
Stephen Sprouse was famous for sending neon colors and wallpapers on clothes, which was a great marriage of punk and high class. Hoosier-bred designer In 2001, when he put his trademark bold lettering on the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram, anticipation ballooned before the line was launched.
The single-armed “Choose or Lose” dress – covered in buttons but without a bodice – was featured in a 1996 MTV Choice Education campaign with model Kate Moss and musician Iggy Pop. And Sprouse’s single strap carries a dress printed with TV scan lines that singer Debbie Harry wore in Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” music video in 1979.
The looks have been prominent throughout Sprouse’s decades. Critics have described his career as a series of ups and downs – the designer’s idea was clever but never quite eased into the retail marketplace that the big names do. In the year In the years since Sprouse’s death in 2004, his body of work has been transformed into a permanent legacy, a new Newfield exhibit.
MoreMoney and friends alive! Opens at The Lume at Newfields. Here’s what you need to know.
“Stephen Sprouse: Rock | Art | Fashion” opens Saturday at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, a meaningful space for the designer. Sprouse visited the museum while growing up in Columbus, Indiana, and in 2019 his family donated a collection of more than 10,000 items of clothing, accessories, textile samples, sketches, audio visuals and Polaroids. Many of the items are the main source for the exhibition, which includes more than 60 pieces of clothing and shoes, videos of his runway shows and more.
“We have a very specific image of the ’80s in our minds, which is more of a working girl, corporate, big clothes, women getting into the business. And at that time, there was a lot of emphasis on the youth and the underground culture of the time. It’s not our universal understanding of the ’80s.” said curatorial assistant Lauren Polian.
Many of his design roots were born while living in a loft in New York, exploring the Kansas City underground music scene at CBGB’s and Max’s. With neighbors like Harry, who started dressing him, Sprouse was well on his way to becoming a designer who ruled America’s transition in the 1980s and beyond.
I use music and art to give away my items. watch out‘
Sprouse’s performance at the Ritz nightclub in May 1984 captured this energy to a great extent. He described the club’s ambiance as “The Stephen Sprouse Book,” featuring concert speakers, a video screen and strobes and black lights.
Three years later in 1987, he told Indystar’s fashion editor how his new collection had captured America’s burnt-out teenagers.
“Between AIDS and the economy, these are very strange times, and people need to hold their heads up and pray for the best,” he wrote about the “God Save America” coat.
In person, Sprouse spoke more quietly than in his designs. While the IndyStar and Indianapolis News reported over the years about his shyness, he was humble and answered any question.
His friend Tama Janowitz described him in the foreword to “The Stephen Sprouse Book” that he loved his children and animals and was good at drawing his friends’ shoes, making them better, even if they were unexpected.
Sprouse formed strong friendships with many of his works—a leather biker jacket in a museum named after his friends. One is by artist Keith Haring, whose collaboration with Sprouse included a shirt design based on an 1872 Antonio Ciceri painting of Pontius Pilate and Jesus after his scourging.
Pop artist Andy Warhol gave Sprouse the rare opportunity to use his prints on his clothes, and he was later buried in one of them. In the exhibition, Warhol’s camera image is displayed on a multi-faceted dress with cut-out fabric patterns reinforced with acrylic paint. Other rooms feature paintings created in collaboration between Warhol and art pioneer Jean-Michel Basquiat.
“Music and art influence fashion,” Sprouse told Indystar in a January 1998 interview. “I use music and art to give away my stuff, while using the things I learned from Halston, tailoring and all. watch out.”
Hoosier designers advised Sprouse
Halston taught Sprouse about fine tailoring, and under his tutelage, helped the young designer meet the likes of Anjelica Huston and Barbra Streisand.
Born in Ohio in 1953, Sprouse moved with his family to Indiana as a child. There he painted fashion collections and his father brought them to the Art Institute of Chicago. From this relationship, Sprouse met Norman Norrell of Noblesville and Bill Blass of Fort Wayne.
The influence of Sprouse’s high-level training can be seen closely in his clothes. Harry’s famous scan-lines dress, for example, is made of two layers and the straps are perfectly aligned, the museum’s information notes. Another olive and orange ensemble, consisting of a hooded coat and sweater and dress, was so tailored that Polian had trouble layering it.
“It’s just implanted on the body,” Polian said.
In order to preserve such carefully cut clothes, the museum adjusted the mannequin to fit perfectly.
“We take the measurements of the clothes and then we design a fiberglass mannequin and reconstruct them,” says Amanda Holden, senior textile conservator.
Video in the exhibit shows Speruz’s runway shows, which curator of textiles and fashion arts Nilo Paydar says is useful for gaining a deeper understanding of the clothes.
“The models are rushing towards each other. It’s not like the European runways,” Pedar said. “He wanted to create a more lively club environment for his runway shows.”
Amazing and expensive, materials
Newspaper stories covering Sprouse’s career mention that he had trouble catching on in the retail market. Part of that stems from a passion for high-quality creative materials that are hard to find at more mass retailers, Paulen said.
“I don’t care about which colors to choose,” said Maggie Ordon, a local planner. “He worked with a few very high-end department stores, although, on a few collections, but in general, he did not bother to sell to a large market.”
But Sprouse’s perfectionism is a gift to those who watch his work. The coat and matching trousers from the autumn/winter 1999-2000 season, for example, look reliably solid grey. But they stop long enough for the nearby screen to hit them and the set goes from blue to blue to violet in seconds. That’s because the tiny encased glass beads in the high-visibility fabric reflect the light, Holden says.
Elsewhere in the exhibit, a swishy, stringy light rose dress glows in the dark. Next to him, a hot pink Day-Glo jacket shines under the black lights, glowing brightly, Holden says. Sprouse’s passion for technology continued to evolve with developments. In the year In the Fall/Winter 1999-2000 show, he used NASA’s Pathfinder Mission to Mars in his fabrics.
Included in many of his designs are the one-of-a-kind letters he drew – forward and backward. The words certainly have meaning, but they seem to speak more in their artistry, with strokes and fine edges that convey his bold visions.
IndyStar’s fashion editor wrote on December 6, 1987 that Sprouse’s art did most of the talking. She said he apologized for being difficult to get hold of, saying he doesn’t often give interviews. His reason?
“I don’t think I have much to say,” he told her.
If you go
what “Stephen Sprouse: Rock | Art | Fashion” .
When: It runs from Saturday to April 2, 2023
Where: Indianapolis Museum of Art in Newfield, 4000 Michigan Road.
Tickets and more information: Included with admission. Free for members. Advance tickets are required. Visit discovernewfields.org.
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Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or d.bongiovanni@indstar.com. Keep an eye on her. Facebook, Instagram Or Twitter: @domenicareports
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