The spirit of Sprouse lives on in LV

Any fashionable art student in the mid ’80s would be familiar with the work of the late designer and graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse, who started the trend of day-glo fashion.

Being third world art students, we had no access to actual Sprouse pieces at the time.

We had to be creative to be able to come up with our own versions of hand-painted day-glo or fluorescent clothes and accessories.

Inspired by Sprouse’s graffiti, we decorated party venues by covering walls with newspapers and painting words using fluorescent paint. A black-lit lamp would transform the place into day-glo heaven.

Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1953, Stephen Sprouse grew up in Columbus, Indiana, where he started designing clothes when he was just nine years old. When he was 12, his father took him to New York where he met and interned for Bill Blass at the age of 14.

Sprouse later enrolled at Rhode Island School of Design, but later left to pursue a career in New York. Soon he was offered a job to work as Halston’s main assistant.

In 1973, he moved into a loft on the Bowery where his neighbors, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, had just formed the rock group Blondie. Sprouse started making clothes for her, making Debbie Harry a living canvas for his art: a true marriage of music and fashion.

In 1983, he made waves with a mini-collection of ’60s-inspired dresses in day-glo and graffiti prints — all rendered with the finest tailoring and sold in stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel.

In 1984, he won the prestigious CFDA award for Best New Designer, but a year later, he was bankrupt.

It was only until 2001 that he came back in a big way with a collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton.

 When the LV-Sprouse prototypes first came out, it was said that Vuitton did not know what to make of them. But Marc Jacobs believed in the design, and the collection sold out instantly. The collaboration gave Louis Vuitton the shot in the arm it needed to attract a younger, hipper market.

In 2004, Sprouse suddenly died of heart failure at the age of 50.

Now, five years later, Marc Jacobs brings his art back to life by channeling the spirit of Sprouse as part Spring/Summer 2009.

Those of you who weren’t able to acquire pieces from the original collection can now have a second chance with a capsule collection of clothes, bags and accessories in Sprouse’s day-glo colors and graffiti prints.

Key pieces include a classic macintosh with a lining fully splashed in graffiti print, as well as T-shirts, mini-dresses, bikinis, and black leggings — all with the iconic Sprouse graffiti.

Patent shoes come in flats or heels, embellished in graffiti or rose print. Street-style sneakers come in hi-cut day-glo colors.

Accessories include bold graffiti bangles and whimsical bag charms, and let’s not forget the newest It bags of the season — reissues of the Keepall, Neverfull, and Speedy in Sprouse-style day-glo graffiti or rose prints, a signature favored by the late artist.