Louis Vuitton to Celebrate the Launch of the Stephen Sprouse Collection
by Staff, January 6, 2009
To celebrate the launch of Louis Vuitton’s Stephen Sprouse collection, Louis Vuitton will be doing several things which includes redecorating New York’s SoHo Louis Vuitton store, releasing a series of limited edition items as well as hosting cocktail parties at their flagship store.
NEW YORK — Like the artist and designer who inspired the new collection, Louis Vuitton is heading downtown for its new Stephen Sprouse collection.
This week, the company’s boutique on SoHo’s Greene Street will be transformed into a Sprouse destination in time for the collection’s arrival.
“SoHo is a special place for the entire launch of the Sprouse collection,” said Daniel Lalonde, Louis Vuitton North America president and chief executive officer. “It’s in the proximity of where Stephen Sprouse hung out, so we are going to give the entire store a Stephen Sprouse feel. It will have a lot of reminders of Stephen Sprouse. We will be giving it a new identity.”
For instance, the company is wrapping the store in vinyl and spray painting neon graffiti all over the facade. The window display will feature a 6-foot neon light installation in Sprouse’s Rose motif. The store’s interior, enhanced with black brick wall facing, will also be sprayed with the neon graffiti.
The collection will launch in its entirety at the SoHo boutique on Thursday. The complete worldwide launch will follow on Feb. 2, though the Rose pieces will be available at Louis Vuitton stores worldwide starting Friday.
For the launch, the luxury goods company is also creating two limited edition pieces, which will only be available at the SoHo location: a Stephen Sprouse graffiti skateboard replete with a hard case monogram skateboard trunk, and a Stephen Sprouse “Roses” T-shirt. The company hopes to sell three graffiti skateboards with trunks for $8,250 each, and 70 T-shirts for $250 each. “I don’t expect them to last very long,” Lalonde said. “By Friday, there probably won’t be any more left.”
Proceeds will benefit Free Arts NYC, which provides underserved children throughout New York City with special arts programs. Vuitton is also making an undisclosed donation to the Sprouse Estate, as well as the Stephen Sprouse Memorial Scholarship Fund at the National Academy for Design here.
Sprouse became known in the Eighties for his graffiti art and fashion designs. In 2001, Vuitton artistic director Marc Jacobs collaborated with Sprouse and created an instant must-have accessories collection with the Monogram Graffiti collection. Sprouse died in 2004, and Vuitton made its first donation to the fund in 2006 when Jacobs created a scarf in Sprouse’s honor, using one of the collaboration’s leopard prints.
Vuitton will honor the late artist with three events this Thursday. The night will kick off with cocktails at the Vuitton boutique on Greene Street, with a simultaneous event at nearby Deitch Projects’ Wooster Street Gallery for the opening of the “Rock on Mars” Sprouse retrospective. Afterwards, Vuitton and Jacobs will host a bash at the Bowery Ballroom, featuring a performance by Sprouse’s friend Debbie Harry, followed by DJ Jus Ske. The venue is expected to have a Sprouse feel, with a special graffiti-and-neon decor.
“It’s something new from Vuitton to start the year off,” Lalonde said of the collection. “The product, design, and expression are uplifting and rejuvenating. That’s the feel we try to provide for the evening and for the collection.”
Source: WWD
stay in your own industry, skateboarding is not fashion, its a lifestyle..
8 fucking grand for a pair of decks? Fuck that……LV entering the skateboarding market is tragic at best. Don’t get me wrong, as a collector’s item that is perfectly fine, but to actually use it and show it off to your buddies because “LV designed it” at a hyper-inflated price is sad.
Cool nonetheless, but I still don’t like the idea.
No thanks!
wow
this is just plain funny
ahahahahaa
I’m gonna drop dead if my buddies shreds this one x}
Wow!
Great but weird.
Would be a honor to work with LV…
KEEP IT UP!
i hope it ends here. wats next sb louis?
What fucking skateboarder is going t be able to afford this thing? Most of the skateboarders i know can barely gather enough scratch for a new 40 deck.
this is out of control
stop trying to make something that is a crime
acceptable amongst the rest of society
i dont see why people say that skateboarding is mainstream
but you still get kicked out of spots
Coming from a skateboarder, I cant wait until the trend passes. That will weed out all the stupid ideas and companies that cant survive. I cant wait until im a loser again.
If anyone at LV can do a nollie tre flip then they can sell that garbage.
so if you snap it, will they replace it or what?!
Or - HB should adopt a system where we can vote crap comments down and grey them out. Fucking retards.
Geez- there are perhaps three or four intelligent comments on the entire thread. I liked it when the others stayed quiet. Please stay that way.
being a skateboarder of 15 years I just feel it’s a photoshoot. if people buy this skateboard and trunk for 8 grand then their idiots. there still is a very “core” part of skateboarding left in this world so i’m not worried about a damn box with a bunch of lv’s on it ruining anything about the skateboard lifestyle.
stop calling skateboarding a sport!
Why is this board so fucking expensive? The beauty of skateboarding and graffiti is that everyone is able to participate in it and considerd equals, regardless of how rich you are. Skateboarding and graffiti is all about the skills, the poorest kid with the best tricks or the best pieces, is the best. This board is only for some rich prick to show off. If LV really cared about skateboarding they would make a board thats affordable for everybody, a board that acualy would be skated on. This is just showing off saying that they’re down with skateboarding, they really keep serving some people with to mutch money. And that is someting were skateboarding or graffiti is deffenitly is not about
I like turtles!
Clearly none of you know anything about Steven Sprouse.
Guys, It’s a couple of fucking skateboards. You think they’re gonna have a team? It’s just a promo photo for a press release. You think you’re gonna be able to go to the LV store and get grip tape?
You people are bugging. Besides skateboarding is just like any other business at this point. for that matter, nothing will ever be “core” again. The internet has ruined the possibility of anything organic ever developing… fuck out a’ here…
wow game over. im not even going to exhaust myself over this one.
wow..22 comments so far. Like it or not, I think this is exactly why they did it.
Ultimate poser accessory perhaps?
I find this to be very offensive to the skate community. LV stick to making stuff for paris hilton
lol Pharrell and Ibn Jasper will have one…and that’s it.
I think this shit!! is dope….to have a company like Louis Vuitton acknowledge ths skate culture shows growth…..it’s your classic case of “the rich” giving “the streets” the credit it deserves….and besides most skaters that are signed hve a more lavish approach towards skating anyway..Bentleys,iced out G-shocks,Louis Vuitton scarfs,Gucci belts,60,000 chains I mean c’mon I can go on and on with this shit!!!(lol)……long story short, rather your swag consists of $400 bape sweatshirts or $30 no names(lol)…as long as it’s for the better good of the culture……”IT’S ALL GOOD”…..but keep in mind all that fly shit don’t make you a better skater(lol)…at the end of the day fuck what kind of board you got and what you rocking……”CAN YOU SKATE?;^)
i better be able to go to a wu tang concert
followed by a album signed by kanye west
followed by
a hand full of tricks should already be able to do with that deck
This board is beyond fresh, it is soo fly.
But im guessing only Pharrell could afford it right?
LV goes hard and I need me some DJ ZO x Hermes slipmats!!!
good god this is preposterous!
an absurd, horrible idea.
they might as well made some porcelain life-sized skateboard because i’m sure as hell don’t see anyone skating these.
this is way beyond stupid.
SKATEBOARDING IS NOT A FASHION!
remember kids, money can’t buy style or class
yeah it looks cool but since when can the average skater afford anything LV
man if you are a skateborder and you are rockin this then you are the man…even if you are not a skateborder and you rockin this then you are the man…the ladies would love this on us.
DAMN YA’LL REALLY ARE CATCHING FEELINGS OVER SOMETHING THAT SUPPOSE TO BE A TRIBUTE. DAMN THE SKATEBOARD LOOK AT THE INSPIRATON BEHIND THE WHOLE PROJECT. I CAN CARE LESS ABOUT THE SKATE CULTURE. THIS IS WHAT FASHION AND DESIGNING IS ALL ABOUT. YA’LL CATCHING FEELINGS LIKE YA’LL REAL SKATERS OR SOMETHING. FUCKING CONSUMERS=’\
this is a beautiful project. a great way to start the new year.
A resellers dream The resell value is going to be crazy……I know Pondon will be there ,ebay’s queen of bape reselling
its ight. execpt thaa pink LV design on the side looks ugly.
smhhhhh. sk8brdn’ are yall fahreal ! ? !
dhey went O.D on this . nodoubt they gone sell quick doe
Yeh… I’ve yet to meet a skateboarder who was rich enough to afford… well fuck, anything. Let alone LV shit. And besides, if you had a bunch of LV gear and you went out skating with it; I reckon you’d last about 30 mins tops before you got jacked.
Skate HAS been underground. So you can’t go and say it wasn’t. Screw LV for releasing a skateboard. This is just ridiculous
Ok, first of all Stephen Sprouse is a designer and artist that helped a new style that includes “uptown sophistication in clothing with a downtown punk and pop sensibility.” This started to happen in the 1980’s when skateboarding was, guess what??? UNDERGROUND and has been underground until tony landed the 9 a decade ago. Since then, skateboarding has greatly increased in popularity skyrocketing stars such as tony hawk, bam margera, and ryan sheckler who have assisted the skateboarding culture even more. Because of this, there have been a plethora of collaborations between businesses marketed more towards the upper class and some who possess more of an urban feel, which are now becoming popular. If you have a problem with where its going, you should probably do something about it and try researching next time instead of making dumb comments. So you should probably go back to jacking off to full clips of jenna jameson on your macbook player…
If u r looking for a collectors item …..Then there it is…Its dope in that aspect…But for skating I agree w/ETPOURTOUS….Its just a lil far out but again it is 09 and ANYTHING is bound to happen….Theres no limits to anything anymore….
man this shit is fresh man! i liked the bags but they wasnt genius but this is amazing .. i wish i had the change for that !! lv is awsome
LOL when the fuck has skateboarding ever been underground? regardless LV into skateboarding is terrible. What their angle? wealthy and destructive? That just doesn’t go well together.
Why stop skating because it isn’t “underground” anymore, if you like it, why don’t do it…
wowwww brillant. 09′
heehhh????!!!!
Don’t say LV gonna enter the skate industry too….
it’s a nightmare….
This is one of the most exciting release in a while and proceeds benefit alot of people. So stop hating n grow up already this is 09. Skating aint underground no more so u so called skaters can stop crying.
LV employing skating is a joke beyond. Thats not even a hate