Few women from the 60’s have left such an deep mark in our minds as Edie Sedgwick. Though her life was cut tragically short, she exemplified the the look and spirit of that era in many ways, from the heavy black makeup, Vidal Sassoon cropped hair to the silver zippered tops over tights. Andy Warhol called her his “Superstar”. Studio 54, Betsey Johnson and The Velvet Underground surrounded Edie on any given day, she was of-the-moment, the timing was perfect.
Hailing from Santa Barbara and born into a very grand, wealthy family Edie moved to New York and fit right into Andy Warhol’s infamous factory. Blazing through her trust fund and the crazy NY scene Edie was eventually ostracized from her family and had to rely on her wits and contacts in the social world to get by-easy given how loved she was by everyone around her.
Women across the nation started emulating Edie almost instantly. Deciding one day that she wanted blonde hair and no time to sit around at a salon, Edie took a temporary platinum silver spray bottle and spritzed her hair into streaky highlights. Flash bulbs went off and millions followed suit!
Years went on and Edie’s life was over before it began at 27, even as she tried in vain to rebuild her life by moving back to Santa Barbara and settling down with a man she fell in love with, sadly it was just too late.
There is much more to Edie Sedgwick than we have room for here, but for all the less glamorous details about her life the one thing we can can all agree on is that there will never be another. If you have not picked up her autobiography written by Jean Stein, we highly recommend it.
Ciao Manhattan!
Just 27? how did she die?
ReplyDeleteShe was living in Santa Barbara with this guy she married and went to a party where people were wispering awful things about her and that night she got so sad that she took some anti-depressants and accidentally oevr dosed on them. Never woke up.
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