Warhol’s World

Andy Warhol’s superstar status drew an eclectic mix of people into his orbit. Socialites, musicians, celebrities, drug addicts, drag queens, models, freethinkers and hangers-on congregated at The Factory, the artist’s legendary studio. There, they would help churn out Warhol’s silkscreen prints and lithographs, star in his avant-garde films and party through the night, often crashing on a red couch that became a famous and symbolic studio fixture. A ménage of young women—known as the “Chelsea Girls,” named after a 1966 Warhol film—served as Warhol’s muses.

Seeking to portray a day in the life of these young women, Des Moines photographer Ben Easter and a team of some 18 people (see credits, page 140) produced the photos featured in this section. “We wanted to create vignettes from the perspective of these ‘it girls,’ ” Easter says. “A lot of times, they pretended to be something they weren’t.”

The project was created for Art Meets Fashion, the Des Moines Art Center’s communitywide event Sept. 13-20 that will include the opening Sept. 18 of an exhibit focusing on Warhol and celebrated clothing designer Halston and a gala Sept. 20 at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates. These and additional photos, as well as a film by Des Moines cinematographer and producer Jacob Moyer, will be showcased at the gala. For details about the gala, exhibit and other Art Meets Fashion events, read the stories that were published in dsm’s July/August issue; find them at https://dsmmagazine.com/2014/06/24/art-meets-fashion/