Beyond Edie Sedgwick: 15 Of Warhol's Forgotten Superstars

For Andy Warhol, the prolific creator who coined the cultural observation we know today as one's '15 minutes of fame,' stardom was ephemeral.

And while his saying "In the future, everybody in the world will be famous for 15 minutes" may be true for some, nowadays, stars seem to be born just as frequently as they're made. But there was once a group of kids who ran in Warhol's circle who didn't need outside validation (see: social media, nepotism) because they had the ultimate arbiter of cool's seal of approval. Their fame may have been local, save for at least one muse, but popularity was an afterthought. Being cool wasn't just their brand (of which they were blissfully unaware of), but a state of mind: They were Warhol's superstars.

During the '60s and early '70s, Warhol's clique appeared in his work — throughout films and photographs — and accompanied his social life, suffusing any candid shots of the crew with downtown glamour, nudity, and killer style. Beyond the aforementioned Edie Sedgwick, there was Baby Jane Holzer, Ultra Violet, Richard Bernstein (who drew his magazine Interview's covers for 15 years), Ingrid Superstar, Candy Darling, Joe Dallesandro, and over a dozen more. It's these vagabond types that added to Warhol's status, serving as loyal muses whom he could use to experiment with his art; they also helped him cultivate the concept of celebrity that we know today. In many ways, they were the original cast of the reality show that is pop culture.

And that's why, during an era in which the concept of being famous has never seemed less appealing (at least to someone who's, for lack of better words, a nobody), we're revisiting the figures who epitomized the art of being relevant. Beyond the makeup, the hair, and the attitude, they were more than just cool kids — they were superstars.