Friday
Jan092009
Blondie Beckons from the Bowery
Friday, January 9, 2009 at 9:27AM
Singer Debbie Harry belted out a bevy of her crowd-pleasing hits at the Bowery Ballroom last night, during a salute to the career of her late friend, artist and designer Stephen Sprouse. One-time neighbors, Harry and Sprouse came to know one another during a very different period in New York's history, one in which the word "gentrification" was not on anyone's lips, certainly not anyone living on the Lower East Side. Sprouse, of course, went on to design bags and accessories for retailers from Bergdorf Goodman to Louis Vuitton. And indeed, Vuitton, under the watchful gaze of creative director Marc Jacobs, has unveiled a limited-edition line of new Sprouse-inspired items, several of them emblazoned with Sprouse's trademark graffiti art. And though these pieces will likely sell out fast, to borrow the words of Ms. Harry, many New Yorkers will be determined to get their hands on them "one way or another."
For more photos, click here.