THE HOUSE OF SPROUSE
A FEW MOMENTS after Lori Phillips lugged a blue pillowcase into a coffee shop in downtown Franklin, she took a self-conscious pause to reconsider her choice of tote. Then she smiled. “Stephen would approve,” she says. “It’s very understated.”
Inside the unassuming carryall, she had put mementos—photos, handwritten letters, original art—of her friendship with the cult fashion designer and artist Stephen Sprouse, who is the focus of a new exhibition, Sprouse: Rock/Art/Fashion, opening July 16 at Newfields. The two had grown up in Columbus, Indiana, and kept in touch until his death in 2004, at age 50, of heart failure.
After graduating in 1971 from Columbus North High School, Sprouse moved to New York City and soon began working for the famous designer Halston. In one letter, sent to Phillips in college, Sprouse joked about her dislike
