Andy & Edie...

By Lucy Harbron - 18:43



I have always been fascinated by Andy Warhol and his entourage. The factory and its eccentric circle of artists, models, musicians etc, there is so much confusion and contradiction within its beauty. And then there's Edie, Andy's muse, the woman remembered as simple a muse.  I fell in love with her face and her style, then after watching Factory Girl, Sienna Miller's tragic portrayal made me fall in love with her story. The duo remains two of my favourite reference points, for the extremely minimal, to boundless maximalism.

'I love uniforms! ... It's better to always wear the same thing and know that people are liking you for the real you and not the you your clothes make.'

Andy Warhol is a symbol of simplism. His art cuts corners, and he didn't hide it. His most famous portraits are simply prints of photos with paint layered over the top, duplications made as a team with minimal artistic technique. Some may say he was false, obsessed with consumption and clinging onto pop culture, but that's the point. He knew that, he would be the first to say it. And that's why I love it. Everything about him was minimal, often doing entire interviews saying little more than a few words. And so I think of him on my minimal days, when I wear my blue jeans and leather jacket. I think of Andy in his breton tops and classic suits. Each time I pull on my black polo neck, I pay homage. He's my minimalist icon for when I want to wear a t-shirt and jeans and admire all the more extravagant things, I'll say 'oh yeah, that's great'.

'She was the first person to wear ballet tights as a complete outfit, with big earrings to dress it up. She was an innovator-out of necessity as well as fun... She was pretty incredible.'

Edie Sedgwick is quite the opposite; over the top in look and persona. I love the photos of her dancing in her tights and leotard, chandelier earrings swinging from her earrings; her bleached blond hair and iconic graphic black cut-crease makeup symbolise it perfectly. Edie was the ultimate it-girl, but also Andy's it-girl. While she was always maximalist in fur and jewels with a full beat, there's definitely a nonchalant effortlessness about it all as she is photographed smoking in a basic bra and pants, or a thrown on fur coat and baker boy hat. She always looks like she's going to or coming from a party, always an element of dressing-up. I love it, so so much. I wish I could just wear tights and big earrings, walk around with the same easy sex appeal. In it all, I see the joy of dressing. Andy summarises it himself, necessity and fun. While Edie was suffering massively from mental health issues, in her clothes I see a kind of power dressing, following her whims and shaking off the expectations on her from her high-class family. She defined her own glamorous, merging the high end maximalist with Andy's perfected casual. I aspire to do the same every day. Want to wear a t-shirt? I will. Want to wear a hot pink tasseled dress? I will.

Andy and Edie seem like the strangest and best friendship ever known, you can't have one without the other, inextricably linked and mutually inspiring. Somedays I'll be Andy casual, then the next I'll draw black onto my eyes and posing in my leopard print. And somedays, I'll be both, an ode to the perfect mess of their friendship.

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