Hey everyone! Guess what? February 27th is National Retro Day and I’m dragging you all down into this rabbit hole with me! Now let’s preface this by saying that this blog is about what I consider to be retro as the youngest member of the Bruneau crew. As of right now I’m still in my mid 20’s, so I’ll be reminiscing on my time with Lisa Frank, which I know some of you will consider me too young for.
Those of you who are a little older than me may also feel extremely offended I’m calling Lisa Frank retro, but just know that the colorful, whimsical commercial art printed on school supplies and stickers are a big part of my childhood too!
Frank studied at the University of Arizona where she founded Sticky Fingers, a children’s jewelry company that would eventually become what we all know and love today: Lisa Frank, Inc. Her father was an avid art collector, and from a young age Frank was surrounded by works of Peter Max and others that she was able to draw inspiration from, the bold neon colors and stylized animals being very prevalent among her works. Popular with young girls of elementary to middle school ages, the stickers, pencils, and trapper keepers were the norm among my peers, and I will never forgive my parents for refusing to get me a trapper keeper because I “wouldn’t like it in a year.” Here we are decades later, and I still like them!
As of today, Lisa Frank as a company still exists but they no longer produce their own goods, and their warehouse is closed. The company now does collaborative work with other companies like Crocs, Loungefly, BlendJet, and cosmetic brands such as Morphe and Orly. Some of you may remember that Pillsbury had a collaboration with Lisa Frank as well, creating sugar cookies printed with pink unicorns.
Let us not forget that the quirky neon brand also had a major glow up when they collaborated with Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton’s 2020 Spring Collection. Even if the Lisa Frank of yesterday was kitsch, cute, and fabulous, the Lisa Frank of today is more mature but just as colorful. If you visit the site today, you’ll find purses, bags, wallets, nail strips, mini blenders, and a lot of makeup. Gone are the days of stickers, trapper keepers, notebooks, and folders but it’s just a bonus for us adults that have the money to splurge on our one true love, Lisa Frank!
