Style Imitating Art: “Diamond Dust Shoes”

Style Imitating Art…

Welcome to Style Imitating Art which comes from Salazar, Shelbee, and me. You can think of this series as fashion meets art museum! SIA challenges people to find inspiration in different art works, create looks based upon that art work, and share them with the curator for that piece. Shelbee is this week’s curator with several options for her choice. I hope you enjoy this post, the information, and my interpretation.

How it works…

Every other Monday one of us selects an inspiration piece of art and posts the image on their blog. We then invite others to interpret that art work through their style. The following Monday, we share our outfits. The curator shares submissions the following Wednesday on her blog. Shelbee chose this week’s art work for this round of Style Imitating Art. If you’d like, you can read why she chose it here. Please send your photo to Shelbee by Tuesday, February 11th, 2025 by 10 pm EST. Style Imitating Art is an interesting way to inspire your outfits. You can see a few of my looks here, here, here, and here.

About the artist…

Grab a drink because this one’s a long one! Andrew Warhola Jr was born on August 6, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His parents were immigrants from Miková in what is today known as Slovakia. He was their fourth child. Known as Andy Warhol, the artist would become known as one of the most important artists of the second half of the twentieth century. As a child, Warhol had Sydenham’s chorea, also known as St. Vitus’ Dance. The disease caused him to be confined to his bed for several months. During that time, he drew, listened to the radio, and collected the pictures of movie stars. Warhol would go on to graduate from Schenley High School in 1945 and won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award. He enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Not surprisingly, Warhol studied commercial art. He joined the campus Modern Dance Club and Beaux Arts Society, served as art director for the student art magazine (illustrated a cover in 1948 with a full page interior illustration in 1949). These two publications would be considered his first two published artworks. He earned a BFA in pictorial design in 1949 and moved to New York City to begin a career in magazine illustration and advertising.

A little more…

Warhol’s first jobs involved advertising for shoes, including Glamour magazine. By 1956, Warhol exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He also traveled around the world with Charles Lisanby, studying art and culture in many different countries. Following up on his shoe advertisements, Warhol began designing “whimsical” shoes, some of which were embellished with gold leaf. These shoes represented famous people like Truman Capote, Kate Smith, James Dean, Julie Andrews, Elvis, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. At the time, they sold for $50 to $225 at the Bodley Gallery in New York City in 1957. Can you imagine what they would sell for today? I’d love to have one of Elvis!

Still more…

I’m not quite sure how Andy got so quickly from being an advertising guy to an artist exhibiting at MOMA! But, somehow, that happened. Anyhoo, Warhol often worked from photographs. He would become known for carrying around a camera and/or a tape recorder all the time. Warhol would trace the photographs using an epidiascope which is something like an overhead projector we teachers used to use. I don’t know…maybe some teachers still have them. I loved mine. But, I digress! Once he’d traced these photos, he’d transform them with just traces of the contours and using hatching for shadows. Edward Wallowitch, an early boyfriend, provided many of the photographs. Warhol used them for a book cover submitted to Simon and Schuster as well as for other series of paintings. A versatile artist, Warhol was hired by RCA Records to design album covers and promotional materials.

The 60s…

During the 60s, Warhol continued working as a commercial artist and produced work for Tiffany & Co. In 1962, Warhol began producing prints of his most iconic motif…the Campbell’s soup can. I remember seeing one iteration at an art museum in Washington, DC back in the 80s or 90s. I could have reached out and touched it, but there were guards everywhere! It was probably one of the neatest things ever…to see something in person I’d only ever seen in books. Warhol was busy during the 60s. It was during this time he produced the Marilyn series of prints, 100 Soup Cans, 100 Coke Bottles, and 100 Dollar Bills. The following year, Warhol tried his hand at music, forming The Druds. Never heard of them? Me, neither! In 1963, he created the Elvis series (Eight Elvises and Tripe Elvis). In addition, he also produced portraits of Elizabeth Taylor which were exhibited at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.

More 60s…

Eventually, Warhol moved into a studio on East 47th Street which turned into The Factory. Warhol’s Factory included the glitterati…artists, writers, musicians, and underground celebrities. It was also at The Factory that Warhol began using assistants to produce his various types of art. He drew a lot of flak for this, but Michelangelo certainly didn’t paint the Sistine Chapel without assistants. To be quite clear, I’m not comparing Warhol to Michelangelo. I’m just defending his use of assistants. In the spring of 1964, Warhol had another exhibition at the Stable Gallery featuring sculptures of contemporary items. He custom ordered wooden boxes and then silkscreened graphics on them. Among the sculptures were Brillo Box, Del Monte Peach Box, Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box, Kellogg’s Cornflakes Box, Campbell’s Tomato Juice Box, and Mott’s Apple Juice Box. I wonder if he had to get permission to use these images or if they were considered public domain. The boxes sold for $200 to $400 depending on how big the box was. Who else but Andy Warhol, right?

Still more 60s…

From the mid 60s into the 70s, Warhol began to “collect” various artists in various genres. He called them his “superstars.” By this time, Warhol was dabbling in movies as well as music. He was a bit of a Renaissance man as he seemed to putter around in so many different places and artistic endeavors. He funded “The Velvet Underground’s” (Lou Reed was their original vocalist) first album. After someone suggested he paint some cows, Warhol produced Cow Wallpaper…you guessed it…repetitions of cows. Udderly weird, right (I couldn’t resist)? Factory Additions became Warhol’s printmaking and publishing enterprise. In this way, he (more likely, his assistants) was able to produce duplicate prints. Warhol also produced films, including “Chelsea Girls.” His first solo museum exhibition was in Stockholm at the Moderna Museet in 1968.

Assassination attempt…

Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist writer, shot Warhol and Mario Amaya, an art critic and curator, on June 3, 1968. She was a member of the Factory scene but only on the fringes. Amaya recovered from his injuries, but Warhol was seriously wounded. He was in the hospital for nearly two months. This attack led to physical effects for the rest of Warhol’s life, including having to wear a surgical corset. The Factory was more regulated, and Warhol decided to make it a business enterprise. With the help of his collaborator, Paul Morrissey, the Factory became a “regular office.” Members of the Factory briefly appear in a party scene in the movie, Midnight Cowboy.

The 70s…

It seems as if the 70s ushered in a different Warhol. It was the time when he gave up his “leather look” for Brooks Brothers, DeNoyer, and Levis. Warhol the entrepreneur emerged. As the preeminent pop artist, Warhol leveraged that to exhibit around the world, including an exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. He produced Andy Warhol’s Pork which opened at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre and moved to the Roundhouse in London. In 1971, Warhol and his business partner, Paul Morrissey, purchased an estate on Long Island and proceeded to rent out the main house. At the 14th Annual Grammy Awards, Warhol received a Grammy nomination for Best Album cover for The Rolling Stones’ album, Sticky Fingers. Warhol is “credited with both the cover concept and photography. Nigel bought it when it first came out (the zipper really works). Our youngest has it now.

Still more…

Even as Warhol continued to produce art, he became more and more a part of the social scene happening in New York City. He was frequently seen at parties and said:

“I try to go around so often so much and try to go to every party so that they’ll be bored with me and stop writing about me.”

Warhol attended a state dinner at the White House, published another book, went on a book tour, traveled to Italy, France, and England. He and Jamie Wyeth were commissioned to paint each other’s portraits by the Coe Kerr Gallery then traveled to Kuwait for the opening of another exhibition. In 1977, Studio 54 opened. This new and infamous club would find Warhol there with his camera, observing the drugs and sex in which people indulged while there. Jed Johnson, a good friend, said:

“When Studio 54 opened things changed with Andy. That was New York when it was at the height of its most decadent period, and I didn’t take part. I never liked that scene, I was never comfortable. … Andy was just wasting his time, and it was really upsetting. … He just spent his time with the most ridiculous people (source).”

The 80s…

The next decade saw new financial success for Warhol. He collaborated with emerging artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel, the Neo-Expressionists. He gained street cred when graffiti artist Fab Five Freddy painted an entire train with Campbell’s soup cans. Warhol was one of the founders of the New York Academy of Art. He became interested in animatronics and worked on a project to create a traveling stage show featuring a life-sized robot in his exact image. The Andy Warhol Robot would be able to read Warhol’s diaries as theatre. Warhol was represented by the Zoli Agency and later Ford models and occasionally walked fashion runways as well as doing product endorsements. In the early 80s, Warhol created endangered species silkscreen prints for Warhol’s Animals: Species at Risk at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He then donated 10 of the 150 sets he made to wildlife organizations “so they could sell them to raise money.” In 1984, Warhol created a portrait of Prince (commissioned by Vanity Fair) to celebrate the success of the song and movie, “Purple Rain.” Done in the same style as the Marilyn series, Prince’s facial features and hair are black against a background of bright orange with highlights of bright green and blue.

Death…

Warhol had been having problems with his gallbladder but put off having it checked. On February 22, 1987, Andy Warhol died after gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital. He was 58. A lawsuit alleged malpractice, and the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. Warhol was a devout Catholic (Ruthenian Catholic). He even described himself as a religious man and frequently volunteered at homeless shelters. The priest at Saint Vincent Ferrer said Warhol was at the church almost daily, regularly attended Mass, but was not observed taking communion or going to confession. He would sit or kneel in the pews in the back. Warhol said it was because he didn’t cross himself in the Orthodox way (right to left instead of the reverse). He was extremely proud of the fact he paid for his nephew’s studies for the priesthood.

A skosh more…

An open casket wake was held for Warhol at the Thomas P. Kunsak Funeral Home in Pittsburgh. He was buried holding a small prayer book and a red rose. His casket was covered with white roses and asparagus ferns during the funeral. Andy Warhol was buried near his parents at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park. A memorial service was held in Manhattan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on April 1, 1987. Over 2000 people attended. I encourage you to just google Andy Warhol. There is so much more to be discovered about this strange yet fascinating artist.

A quote…

“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 (source).”

Something different…

The art work…

“Diamond Dust Shoes” is a series of silk screen prints. The story goes that Halston (one of Warhol’s best friends and noted fashion designer) wanted Warhol to come up with an ad campaign for some new shoes. Halston’s boyfriend brought a large box of shoes down to Warhol’s apartment and dumped them on the floor. Rather than straightening them up, Warhol was intrigued by the image of the pile of shoes. He took several Polaroids of the shoes, and the “Diamond Dust Shoes” series was born. Try as I might, I couldn’t get a definitive answer as to the exact number of prints Warhol produced of this particular series. The prints are screenprinted in colors on paper with diamond dust. Most measure 40 1/4 x 59 3/4 in (102.2 x 151.8 cm). I did read in one piece that Andy didn’t think the diamonds glittered enough so they substituted ground up glass. My guess is some may have diamonds, and some may have glass. I am also guessing the size of the pieces varied.

A little more…

In many people’s eyes, Warhol was the poster child for the 70s and 80s. He was often found at Studio 54 with his buddy Halston as well as Jerry Hall (one of Mick Jagger’s exes), Liza Minnelli, and Grace Jones. “The shoes captured in ‘Diamond Dust Shoes’ look as though they could be lit by the coloured beams of the nightclub, seemingly strewn on the floor in a drunken daze (source).” Here is another wonderful article about both the artist and the art work. Sometimes, you just have to read the whole thing!

A skosh more…

There is so much to be read about this particular series of works. It was fascinating to go down all those rabbit holes, but I’ll give you just a taste! In this article, I thought this was very interesting.

“Where Van Gogh’s image of a singular pair signaled the independent identity of one character, Warhol’s jumble of mismatching shoes seem to refer to his own numerous visual identities. Throughout his career, he perfected a series of carefully cultivated images; he was rarely seen without the wigs and glasses that became part of his signature look. These symbols of his outwardly projected personality were made up of easily removable and inter-changeable costumes.“

My interpretation…

At first, I was going to go kinda literal with my interpretation. I have this wonderful bomber jacket that rather resembles diamonds, but it lacks color. I next thought of a colorful dress (I may have a few) and alighted upon the “Stockholm” dress from Gudrun Sjödén. It had all the colors I needed and more! If you were to look closely, you’d actually see some clocks! Maybe I should have kept this in case we ever feature Dali’s “Melting Clocks.” I also added a slip in a complimentary color.

The Lewk!

I don’t have any Diamond Dust Shoes, but I do have these Originala boots from L’Artiste. They have a bit of glitter to them. They also have a really cool heel. I think Andy would approve! I wanted to pick up some of the turquoise color in the dress as well as the art work. I used this turquoise chip necklace and a faux turquoise necklace from J Jill. The earrings and bracelet are real and were gifts from Nigel. He’d gotten them on a business trip to the Southwest. The stretch bracelets are from World Finds. They’re from the “Cause Collection.” Ten percent of the proceeds go to each cause. There are different bracelets for several different causes.

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I remember seeing Andy Warhol on television when I was younger (as in way younger). And, somehow or other, I was aware of the soup can art because I was so impressed to actually see it in Washington, DC. But, to say I really knew much about Andy Warhol as I was growing up would be a drastic over-exaggeration of the truth. I knew of him; I also had seen the Stones album cover (when you unzip it, there’s a surprise). I had no idea until doing this research that Andy Warhol was the artist. So, can we talk? What do you think of pop art? What kind of feelings do these pieces create in you? Do you see how the colors and placement of the shoes create movement? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as quickly as I can.

Don’t forget…

If you want to be included in the Style Imitating Art round up, send Shelbee your photo by 10:00 pm EST Tuesday, February 11th. Photos of everyone participating will appear on Shelbee’s blog on Wednesday, February 12th! If you’re interested in join us, consider all of your options…the colors, the lines, the shoes! Come on, give it a try! I think you’ll love it!

Thank you!

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.

Affiliate links, discount codes and such:

Just a reminder that Marsha in the Middle may use an affiliate link. Those links are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link I provide, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.  Use Marsha12 for 12% off any order of $65 or more at Buykud. I have also become a Halftee Partner. Use the code, MARSHA2098, for 20% off any purchase. I am also an affiliate with Clara Sunwoo. You can use my code, MARSHA10, for 10% off your entire order. In case you didn’t know, bloggers must disclose the use of affiliate links. That’s why I include this in each post.

Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style,  Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, Suzy Turner, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop (Esme’s Salon) and Slices of Life. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

First Name

Last Name

List choice Marsha’s Blog

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you’re human: