Pop Art in Fashion

 

   

Broderick, Mira. “Andy Warhol’s Miller Shoes.” Andy Warhol Museum                         

On November 12, 2021, I received an invitation to a new gallery exhibit at the Andy Warhol museum. I have lived in Pittsburgh for four years now and have never been to this museum before so I was very excited to be invited to the new exhibit opening. Not only was I able to see the new exhibit, but I was able to see the entire museum. I had no idea what to expect because I only knew a few pieces of Warhol’s art and had no previous background knowledge on his career. I would definitely say the museum surprised me and was not at all what I was expecting.

I went with my boyfriend Steve, and also invited along my best friend Kellianna, and her boyfriend, Connor. Kellianna and I were new to the exhibit, but Steve and Connor have been here multiple times. They had told us that we had to start at the top floor and work our way down because the museum is organized in chronological order of Andy Warhol’s life. The top floor is about Warhol's early stages of life and career as an artist. Andy Warhol’s first job was working in commercial work with fashion brands such as Dior and Tiffany & Co. When I was looking around on the top floor, I had no idea that Andy Warhol participated in the fashion world and helped with certain fashion brands. This took me by surprise and I realized this would be perfect for a blog post. The picture above, are drawings created by Andy Warhol during the 1950s when the ad campaign for I. Miller Shoes came out. These drawings of shoes are casual, but yet so intriguing because even though each frame displays a single design of a shoe, the shoes are all different and are drawn from different angles. What captured me when first looking at the shoes is that Warhol did not make his drawings boring, but rather represented the truth to the I. Miller shoes and even incorporated ways of measuring the shoes. The museum creators made a collage of the drawings and dedicated a whole wall to the shoes that were simple, but sophisticated looking. 

Now, across the wall of the shoes was a window display that Warhol made for the Dior perfume collection. Right when I turned around from looking at the shoes, I stopped in my tracks and in my head I was thinking, “Oh my goodness! Is that a display for Dior?” I questioned why this would be in here and was captivated by the craziness that was going on. This window display was breathtaking as the display incorporated so many colors, drawings, and cutouts. I think I spent a total of 20 minutes studying this display because there was so much going on. Warhol captured who Miss Dior is and why people should buy Dior’s perfume. I felt this was a very creative piece of art that not only people from the 50s should see, but people in today's decade should see as well. 

                   

                        

                          ]Broderick, Mira. “In the Window.” Andy Warhol Museum

           

In the 1970s, Andy Warhol created more pop art and drew portraits of famous people, but in a crazy and funky way. When I walked into the room on the fifth floor, there were dozens of portraits on the walls of different people. One caught my eye and in my head I thought, “Wait! Is that Victor Hugo?” So I skipped all the other portraits and ran straight to that one to check if I was right. Sure enough I was right and immediately told my group that he was Roy Halston’s love interest during the 80s before he tried to steal and run away with Halston’s money. Hugo knew a lot about fashion and helped Halston design a few collections. Halston paid Warhol to paint a portrait of Hugo and give it as a gift to Hugo. This amazed me because I had no idea Halston knew Warhol were affiliated with each other. The artwork was so unique and Andy Warhol captured a good angle of Hugo because he was a very sexually active person and his pose in the portrait displays this. His portrait was something that did not make a great impact on my life, but I loved learning the connection between the artists and how it is a very small world out there. 

Broderick, Mira. “Victor Hugo.” Andy Warhol Museum