“What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca-Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca-Cola too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it. “  – Andy Warhol

 Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was a New York icon widely regarded as “the Pope of pop art.”  His mastery of fusing commercialism and expression not only made him a trailblazer in the art world, but also an oracle of American culture.  He was as American as apple pie, baseball or Coca-Cola.  The stamp he created during his lifetime is still present in the art world today.  He is among an elite class of artists whose work has sold for $100 million.  The son of immigrants, it is no doubt that he was a true American original with a keen ability to amalgamate myriad forms of people and media to present us with the best and worst of our society.

“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.”  – Andy Warhol

The fashion industry as a whole could be summed up in this quote.  It is an entity that thrives on desire.  People desire to have a closet full of dresses, slacks, and shoes and dressers filled with different brands of T-shirts, jeans and intimate apparel, but it is not a requirement necessitates our survival (at least for most of us).  Clothing is used to help define who we are just as much as the art hanging on our walls communicates aspects of our personality.  If Warhol was “Pope of pop art,” then khakis and jeans are one half to the All-American uniform.  Everyone owns at least one pair.  

 “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”  – Andy Warhol

 For all of the innovation and creativity seen on the runways of New York City, Milan or Paris, fashion is an industry that is slow to embrace change, Grown and Sewn is label that is on the forefront of changing attitudes in fashion. Their “Kax” combines a khaki and jean into a unique, durable and stylish product. They are also an eco-friendly company that produces their clothing in the U.S.  Like Andy Warhol, they are American originals that have the potential to become a bellwether for American fashion as Warhol was for art.

“I have Social Disease. I have to go out every night. If I stay home one night I start spreading rumors to my dogs.” – Andy Warhol

 The holidays are more than just a time to indulge in sales and fattening foods, it is also a time for gathering with friends and family and creating lasting memories.  Grown and Sewn and Skot Foreman Fine Art have collaborated once again to showcase the pinnacle of vicissitude.  Grown and Sewn’s December 17 holiday party opened an exhibit of works by Andy Warhol and other prominent artists at their Tribeca showroom, located on 184 Duane Street.  Rob Magness and Skot Foreman are continuing the thread of celebrating American innovation and creation that was started with the Purvis Young exhibit a year ago.

 “Once you ‘got’ Pop, you could never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again.” – Andy Warhol

Collaboration played a major role in Andy Warhol’s creative process and manufacturing.  In some respects, collaboration is the American way.  After all, what is American culture but the partnering of several different ethnicities working to produce an imprint that is distinct.    Grown and Sewn’s and Skot Foreman Fine Art’s collaborations have altered the way people view art and fashion.  In this sense, they are the new millennium Factory. 

Photos and Slideshow: F.A.M.E NYC Editor