Drip Graffiti As Fashion

Allen Benedict has an interesting piece over on 12oz Prophet where he considers the influence of graffiti on fashion - looking back at the collaboration that Stephen Sprouse made with Marc Jacobs. One piece from that partnership Allen particularly admires is the Louis Vuitton Graffiti bag and says:

Though the appropriation of graffiti’s aesthetic has probably been going on for nearly as long as graffiti has existed, I first took notice of it around 2001 when Louis Vuitton released its “Graffiti” series of bags and accessories. What caught my attention back then was how completely unexpected it was to see such a traditional pattern, suddenly violated by a bunch of bold hand lettering all over the top of it. Until then, Louis Vuitton had always reminded me of the sort of brand affluent old women strutted in. Though the scrawl wasn’t a style I’d recognized from the streets, the premium placement and the visually hostile way it took over was something I could place and relate to.

The whole post is worth a read and he points to an example of graffiti’s influence today on these Sergio Rossi paint pumps.

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