2024-04-25
The Andy Warhol Foundation of the Visual Arts' collaboration with Herschel, the popular retro brand best known for its backpacks, bags and accessories, has resulted in a unique collection consisting of products with Warhol's iconic designs. The legendary banana, cow and hibiscus flowers, straight from Andy's factory, found their way onto the materials of designer backpacks and hip packs designed for the occasion.
This is not the first collaboration between the Andy Warhol Foundation and the popular fashion company. In the past, the Foundation worked with brands such as Dior and Calvin Klein. The creative director of both brands at the time of the collaboration was Raf Simons, fascinated with Warhol's work, which, in his opinion, "captures all sides of the American experience". Dior's fall 2013 collection featured Andy's drawings, while five years later, Calvin Klein included photographs of the artist taken between 1963 and 1982 in its spring collection.
"Flowers" (1964), "Cow" (1966) and "Banana" (1966) are famous works of art made by Andi Warhol in his artist atelier, "The Factory". All three paintings (a screen print and two lithographs) combine the natural world with a pop-art aesthetic that transforms realistic images of hibiscus flowers, a banana and a cow into vibrant, contrasting compositions that bear no resemblance to reality. Warhol's fans, Herschel's customers or lovers of both, thanks to the company's cooperation with the foundation, can buy unique backpacks or hip packs, incorporating the artistic-fashion collaboration into their outfits.
One cannot deny the closeness of the world of art and fashion. Products incorporating art - popular paintings, photographs, sculptures, and even quotes by artists, are gaining popularity while being subjected to constant criticism. The question arises - is the commercialization of art a good idea? Art available on the commercial market, such as clothing, is taken off the pedestal, becoming an element of the capitalist machine. When anyone can buy Warhol's "Statue of Liberty" (1962) by Warhol on a t-shirt or socks, it ceases to be seen as an inaccessible pop-art icon. And as it should be in the case of mass art - it returns to the consumer circuit, engaging in a never-ending dialogue about what popular culture actually is.