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Edie Sedgwick 
FACTORY MADE
by Mengly Taing
Andy Warhol once said “In the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes.” He was right about fame being fickle and no one knew it better than his young ingénue, Edie Sedgwick.
Not many people may know or even remember the “Poor Little Rich Girl” from California who fled her family mansion in Santa Barbara to become a star in New York’s underground art scene. Poised for stardom, she sat on top of the world in 1965, only to find herself lost in it a year later – she spent the last years of her life in and out of psychiatric wards battling drugs and herself.
Just five years after she left the scene, Edie died from a drug overdose at the age of 28. The year was 1971 and her death occurred just three months after she completed her last film, “Ciao, Manhattan,” John Palmer and David Weisman's near-biographical picture of her life.
Edie died young, and like many other stars that have, she became immortalized as an icon. Designers have been raiding Edie's closet for years, but this year in particular, Edie’s taste for black leggings and ballet flats reached mass appeal.
The young heiress had a unique way of combining downtown chic with uptown class. The faux leopard-skin coat, large sunglasses, knee-high boots, black leotards, shoulder-grazing chandelier earrings and dark, smoky eyes she made her signature have been the source of inspiration for many of Young Hollywood’s fashion rebels and trendsetters, including Sienna Miller, who will be bringing the tragic star back to life on the silver screen in George Hickenlooper’s “Factory Girl” in September.
“Her look, her originality, her problems, everything about her comes together to make an intriguing story I think everyone should know and feel,” said Camille Moreno, 19, founder and designer of Holy Mess.
The Brooklyn-based designer and avid Edie fan began screen-printing Edie tees, for men and women, last January. Moreno, who looks like a modern-day Edie with her blond cropped-hair, was first introduced to Edie a couple of years earlier after seeing the star in one of Warhol’s low-budget art films.
HOLY MESS cotton tees, $25
“Because of her, there are big clothing companies, big stores [that] all want artificial pieces of Edie-ness to sell,” Moreno said. “But the truth is that no one can compare to her, no matter how many people will try to trick you, no one, not one, can ever buy the real thing.”
While some critics believe Edie did nothing to achieve fame, it’s what Edie has come to symbolize in life after death that has struck a chord among American youth. She represents the innocence we all seek in a world often plagued with broken dreams – a dreamer falling victim to the real world. For every 15 minutes there's a star, but few seem to shine as bright.
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