ABOVE: detail from Andy Warhol’s Marilyn series (1967). The famous Warhol print will be reproduced on Levi’s clothes next fall.

Our first reaction to the news that the Warhol Foundation has authorized Levi’s to create a Warhol-themed clothing line for next spring called Warhol Factory X was anger, then puzzlement, hunger, itchiness, ennui, and finally acceptance. Why, we raged in our internal monologues, should Warhol’s iconic works be used to hock Levi’s products? It seemed to cheapen the works in question, stiching them on to a pair of $300 jeans. But the work was cheap in the first place—that was the point. It was cheap and commercial and crass and mass-produced and borderline advertising from the beginning. Warhol even did advertising work for Levi’s in the early ’80s, and apparently frequently wore Levi’s jeans himself, so we can reasonably suppose he’d be behind this project.

The clothing line will include little nods to Warhol’s work: the Silver Luck collection, named for the artist’s “Silver Factory” studio, will have silver threads woven into it, and the buttons will feature tiny images of items from Warhol’s paintings. Jeans will cost $190 to $300, and tops $80 to $300. That’s still a ripoff, price-wise, for some lousy silkscreened 501s, but hey, it’s art now.

LINK: San Francisco Chronicle > Andy Warhol art will adorn new Levi’s line