ART & FASHION // LOUIS VUITTON x STEPHEN SPROUSE x DEITCH PROJECTS

Last week was a hot one for Luis Vuitton, with it’s full on Stephen Sprouse collaboration/makeover unveiling at the SoHo flagship store.  The store went under a full makeover with neon graffiti and neon lights all paying homage to the godfather of skate/graffiti/punk rock fashion fusion.  Dietch Projects will also be running Rock on Mars (funded entirely by LV), a retrospective that turns the entire space into Sprouse’s futuristic Rock and Roll vision.  A limited edition LV x Stephen Sprouse, skateboard and trunk will be sold for 8k as well as some other limited books and shirts.  These items are available now at the SoHo store and will be available worldwide Feb 2nd.  The retrospective at Deitch Projects will run through Feb. 28th.  For all those who just read that blurb and thought that sounded way too buttoned up for this blog, there’s a sidenote below these pictures that I saved all the flavor for.

Sidenote: Before you drink that jaded streatwear haterade on this post, educate yourself.  I had it out with a sneaker head earlier about how he thought LV was a “bullshit cop-out” with the skateboard/graffiti collaboration and I had to kindly correct him.  Because, when I asked him if he knew who Stephen Sprouse was, his repsonse was …….. yup, still waiting.  Truth is, Spouse was collaborating with Luis Vuitton in 2001 doing the same thing, before this rookie even discovered limited edition anything.  “Well if they wanted to do graffiti shit, that ain’t real graffiti”, this collaboration it’s not about graffiti, it’s about a designer and artist.  Not to mention that Sprouse is hugely responsible for laying the foundation of street culture/art/fashion fusion aka “his culture” in the 80’s downtown NYC scene.  I’m just getting a little tired of this jump to hate, closed minded, street aficiando’s who bought their first dunks 6 months ago and think this culture is all about their dunks they bought 6 months ago.  So ******, go to wikipedia, look him up, formulate a response and come back like you knew who he was all along and then you can tell me it’s still bullshit, I may even agree with you.  You’ll at least be informed in your opinion while you wait for your pre-order kanye x kaws album. Same thing , different packaging.

ART OPENING NYC // MICHAEL THOMPSON @ HASTED HUNT GALLERY

Okay, so this opening was last week, but got swamped so bad with the Clark Kent job that I didn’t have time to sit down between then and now.  But, the crew rolled uptown to the Hasted Hunt Gallery in Chelsea to grab some free drinks and check out fashion photographer Michael Thomspon’s new show that opened on Sept. 11th.  This is Michael’s first solo show in the US, with an opening heavily attended by those involved in the fashion world, you know the people always listed in the inside cover of fashion magazines… the liner notes people…yeah, them.  A few celebs even peaked their heads out, like Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland and Captain Orange Crocs Chef Mario Batalli.  Moving like a little tornado through the crowd was Jed Root (Michaels agent), in full cheek kissing support of his number one.  Jed was so busy making his way to Jack Bauer (Kiefer), to probably help him save the world or something, that a few of us got the Up-Rooted by the man representing the man of the hour.  All in all it seemed that people were much more interested about talking to each other than what was hanging on the walls, which seemed more like an editorial than an art show.  But, I could be completely off, a lot of people are praising it.  You can judge for yourself as the show runs through Oct. 25th at Hasted Hunt, 529 W 20th Street.  To more see pictures of the opening night, the celebs who attended, the man of the hour and our new personal favorite Jed, just follow the jump when you click right HERE: