'A Tribute to Andy Warhol' commemorative bottle design. Photo courtesy of Dom Pérignon
The lavish Cupola penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue set the scene for Dom Pérignon’s tribute to the late Andy Warhol. The space was filled with well-dressed champagne lovers, sipping Dom’s bubbly beverage between spouts of riveting conversation and the occasional glimpse of an Eddie Sedgwick look-alike, lounging and looking positively bored. The live flashback to Warhol’s New York heyday was a reminder of what the gathering commemorated. Sure, the champagne was reason enough to celebrate—it usually is—but the specially designed bottle from which the sparkling elixir flowed reminded the crowd who the real star was that night. Andy Warhol captivated the underground art scene and invigorated the Pop Art genre. He was the ruler of irregularity, the connoisseur of color, and the master of modernity manipulation. He will forever be cherished as a monumental figure in the art world.
It was only fitting that one of the most celebrated artists was paired with one of the most enjoyed champagnes. Dom Perignon’s A Tribute To Andy Warhol focused on the champagne’s bottle. Conceived by the Design Laboratory at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art & Design, the three commemorative bottles display the traditional seal of Dom Pérignon but with a Warhol-ian twist. Each label echoes Warhol’s own work as they present the timeless bottle in hues of yellow, blue, or red, colors traditional of the pop artists work.
A diary entry from March 8th, 1981 appears on the Dom Pérignon’s tribute box and preserves Warhol’s love with the luxury champagne: “Went to the gallery where they were having a little exhibition of the glittery Shoes, and had to do interviews and pics for the German newspaper and then we had to go back to the hotel and be picked up by the “2,000” people – it’s a club of twenty guys who got together and they’re going to buy 2,000 bottles of Dom Pérignon which they will put in a sealed room until the year 2,000 and then open it up and drink it and so the running joke is who will be around and who won’t…”
As a frequenter of Studio 54, Warhol liked nothing better than to party with friends between pops of Dom Pérignon. Unfortunately, Andy did not make it to see the fountain of champagne the year 2000 brought. His death in 1987 was remembered July 22, 2010 far above the New York streets by a group of champagne and art lovers toasting to his memory.
Andy Warhol: a name forever synonymous with twentieth century art and momentarily encapsulated in the stream of tiny bubbles flowing from the unique Dom Pérignon collection.
Photo courtesy of Dom Pérignon.
