She is born into wealth, a ranch in Santa Barbara, the Sedgwick name heavy with expectation. A gilded cage lined with shadows. A father’s volatility, siblings lost to illness and despair. Edie carries this inheritance into the Factory, where Andy Warhol’s camera catches her. A moth in the white heat of the 60s. She becomes the “It Girl,” a Youthquaker, her cropped hair a signal flare of rebellion and fragility.

Her fame is meteoric, her fall just as swift. Ciao! Manhattan tries to capture her story, but the film becomes a mirror of her unraveling. She seeks escape in marriage, sobriety, a return to something quieter. The end comes too soon, 28 years old, a candle extinguished in the same town where it was lit.

silver tights
the factory lights
shine too bright

Paul Conneally
Dec 2025