Oh Edie

She was the face of the mid 60's Manhatten, New York scene, queen of Beatnik, Psych chic, with the perfect yet fatal combination of troubledness and immaculate individual style and specialness.
Andy Warhols muse, the 'IT' girl of fashion and The Factory, whoever Edie Sedgwick met was like a moth to the flame with her, she touched everyone and remains unforgotten.

In 1965, Edie met artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol.
She began going to The Factory and during one visit, Warhol was filming 'Vinyl', his interpretation of the novel 'A Clockwork Orange'. Despite 'Vinyl's' all-male cast, Warhol wanted Edie in it.  Although her appearance was brief, she'd generated so much interest that Warhol decided to create a film in which she could star.

Although Warhol's films were not commercially successful and rarely seen outside The Factory circle, Edie's notoriety grew, mainstream media outlets began reporting on her appearances in Warhol's underground films and her unusual fashion sense. During this period she developed her "trademark" look of black leotards, black tights. Egyption inspired make-up, blonde cropped beehive hair and large chandelier earrings. Warhol christened her his "Superstar".

After, a seemingly short struggle with Alcohol, Speed and Heroin, Edie left the Manhatten scene and married, starting a new, cleaner life. Although she had somewhat recovered Edie was also on prescribed medication for physical illness and often claimed she had lost them in order to get more or mixed the drugs with alcohol. Edie died on the 15th November 1971, accidental overdose of barbiturate.

Edie’s individual style has been seen time and time again on the street and in the media. I for one could be condemned for completely robbing her of her look. I have been known to go out in a fur coat that covers my bottom and earrings longer than my skirt…but it does look good. I even went as far to chop all my hair off and dye it blonde. Granted, it is not an easy look to pull off. Edie’s pixie like legs flattered a leotard and winkle pickers. Mine however, did not. Being a size 8-10, I may as well be obese trying to look good in some of Edie’s outfits.

It takes a certain person to pull off the short hair, almost transvestite make-up and skimpy outfits, maybe the cut -off point would in fact, sadly be age. Edie did only live to 28 and at the time of her factory days, she was only 24. It could be considered strange that she did in fact die so young. Was Edie only made for youth? What would she have looked like at 30?
I think she would have been bored.

Many women in the spotlight have been seen to emulate Edie's look. It is as timeless as the superstar herself. Edie was the enigma of the 60's, she can never be created again, there was nobody like her before and still there is nobody who has come after her.



Kate Moss



Pixie Geldof



Madonna



Pixie Geldof

Even X-Factor (ex) contestant Katie Waissel has been seen emulating the Sedgwick fro

What’s most interesting about Edie is she demonstrated Warhol’s theory perfectly; “everyone will have their 5 minutes of fame”. Although she has become an icon, a focal point for 60’s fashion and at the time a phenomenon, she was only in the public eye for 2 years. A very short space of time. She then fell off the media circuit and disappeared.

Although Edie Sedgwick died 41 years ago, she remains alive, her timeless appeal will live on
forever.

Amy Winehouse Ballet Pumps

Every celebrity has a trademark look. For Madonna, it's the Marilyn do and red lipstick, Gaga, well just about anything that shouldn't be worn but still looks good.
Amy Winehouse however, had probably the strongest of images and most definately the least expensive to uphold. Of course there's the huge, nested beehive with long, gypsy-like tendrils of hair falling all around it, a Fred Perry shirt that shows a little more chest that what Mr Perry originally wore playing tennis, then there's the miniscule denim shorts with a belt that really does do its job.

But!

Who could forget, right at the bottom of many a Winehouse outfit, the pink, satin, ballet pumps?

Come wind, rain, snow, sleet, sun, where Amy went, those shoes went. They certainly were a favourite and definately were a major part of her trademark look.

I, myself have been previously guilty of scanning high street shops for such shoes. Unfortunately, most dolly-pump shoes in shops tend to be made of plastic, a stupid colour or pattern, or have a bow or buckle of some sort on them. No such shoe to be found. I gave up.

I came across an article online one day, discussing the footwear of Miss Winehouse, stating that these were in fact actual ballet shoes and that professional ballerinas had voiced their opinions on which brand they believed to be 'THE' shoe. My initial reaction to finding this out was originally a face that could only be desribed as a '5 hours of dancing in 6inch stilettos, then embarking on the 3mile walk home face'.
Let's face it, dance shoes are made for relatively short term wear and not designed to pound the streets of London and those shoes probably saw more of London than a foreign tourist with 48hrs to see everything. My future 75 year old self decided for the present 24 year old that I should probably attach myself to a different footwear trend.

However, I must admit, the shoes continued to creep back into my psyche and I was guilty once more of 'looking around' for this. This time, online.
There are a few websites which state various places suspected of supplying Amy with ballet shoes. One of them was Freed.

 

These shoes are the ones suggested by Ballet Teachers and at a first glance, I agree, they do look very much like the shoes Amy wore. However, one thing I did notice from pictures of her shoes was there is no tie on any of her shoes.

There was also this make, Gandolfi, which allegedly, she was seen buying shoes from, but these look a little more peachy than pink:

I eventually stumbled across some Ballet shoes, whilst on ebay, after putting up more clothes. Now these certainly looked very much like the photo's, under £10 and full sole which is said to be type worn.

These cost me around £7, they stock adult and child sizes, up to size 9 and look identical. No doubt they are probably not the precise make she wore, but they are the closest I have found to the original.

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/dancewear--uk/?_trksid=p4340.l2559