BY DESIGN : Barneys, Sprouse Seem a Perfect Fit
There’s a love fest going on between fashion designer Stephen Sprouse and the family that owns Barneys New York.
“They’re great to work with,” he says of the Pressman family.
“My family likes him very much. He’s a super guy without a big ego,” senior buyer Nancy Pressman says of Sprouse.
Here’s the deal: Barneys gets the exclusive services of one of New York’s most creative designers. In exchange, Barneys handles the production end, relieving Sprouse of the part of the business that seemed to doom his on-again, off-again 12-year career.
This will be his fourth time at bat. The 31-year-old Sprouse emerged on the fashion scene as part of the New York club crowd that also included Anna Sui and photographer Steven Meisel. He had his own line in 1983. Then his own SoHo store. In 1992, he made a deal similar to the one he now has with Barneys with Bergdorf Goodman. All failed.
“Stephen never had a problem with design or quality; it was with production,” Pressman says. “Because of our relationship with the mills and factories, I don’t worry about deliveries or quality. We can eliminate any difficulties.”
But Sprouse’s debut line for Barneys was already a month late when it arrived at the stores last week. For Sprouse, some things never change. His clothes are late, but his legion of admirers say they’re well worth waiting for.
The collection is made up of streamlined separates in a rainbow of Day-Glo colors, the same hues that were popular for black light posters back in the early ‘70s. Remember “Love Signs of the Zodiac”?
Sprouse’s matte jersey and cotton sateen dresses, skirts, pants, blouses and patent leather belts are less than $250.
It’s tempting to compare his short A-line dresses with square necklines to late-’60s styles, but Sprouse is one designer who rarely looks back. He uses brilliant hues because, he says, “Day-Glos are the newest colors.” He likes simple lines, uncluttered surfaces and Velcro fasteners for clothes that look “taped on.”
Few designers do spare as well Sprouse, but they’re trying. “I’m starting to feel like a domestic airline, I see so many of my designs on the runway,” he says in a voice only a few notches higher than Barry White’s.
Sprouse doesn’t talk like a fashion designer. He doesn’t have a pocketful of adjectives like fabulous to describe his clothes. He tends to express himself more like a bass player, in monosyllables. Cool is high praise from Sprouse, who lives in two worlds. He is also the costume curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
His first payoff, the proceeds from the sale of two sequined dresses, was spent on a guitar. For the museum Sprouse has found an original Pierre Cardin Beatles suit, Sid Vicious’ leather pants, John Lennon’s Sgt. Pepper outfit, as well as clothes worn by Jimi Hendrix and Elvis.
“I’ve always been influenced by rock ‘n’ roll, and rock ‘n’ roll has always influenced my fashion,” he says. “I’m lucky to do both.” He expects the MTV generation to buy his clothes as long as Barneys keeps the prices down.
And that was the purpose in hiring Sprouse, to have a “cool” designer label at affordable prices. The terms of his contract are a Barneys secret. Nor will Pressman commit to a time period, saying only, “We’ll see how it goes.
“He knows we have retail expectations,” she says. “He’s not designing just for design’s sake. I think he wants to get back out there, and this is the opportunity for him. We want Stephen to be happy.”
