Last night in downtown New York City, a serried flock of movie stars, models, fashion designers, and artists gathered for their daily dose of champagne. This wasn’t just any champagne; it was Dom Pérignon’s Vintage 2015, packaged in limited edition bottles and coffrets creatively designed by the Basquiat Foundation. Santé!
Held at The Brant Foundation in the East Village, Dom Pérignon celebrated three new bottle designs inspired by the artwork of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Dom Pérignon’s iconic shield emblem and Basquiat’s iconic three-pronged crown is a fitting design pairing, made all the more playful by Basquiat’s genius coloration. The champagne bottles are boxed in three accompanying coffrets, which joined together to form a triptych of Basquiat’s 1983 painting In Italian, which hung on display at The Brant Foundation.
Joining to quaff the creatively packaged Dom Pérignon champagne were celebrities like Zoë Kravitz in Saint Laurent, Natasha Lyonne in Michael Kors, Evan Mock, and Precious Lee. Others in attendance included Luka Sabbat, Moses Sumney, Raul Lopez, Nicole Miller, Tina Leung, and Ezra William. The celebration gathered guests at the intersection of art, fashion, film, and wine, making for a particularly chic crowd. Autumnal outfits ranged from black leather suits to long camel duster coats to dark sunglasses worn indoors. Many also wore hats of the bucket, trapper, and baseball varieties.
Natasha Lyonne, who stood admiring Basquiat’s painting and Dom Pérignon coffrets, told Vogue, “Basquiat’s work is gorgeous. I’ve been to The Brant Foundation many times and I can really get lost in his art. What an incredible human being and artist. I wouldn’t mind owning one!”
The Brant Foundation, formerly a Con Edison substation and Walter De Maria’s residence, was a perfect setting for the occasion. Midnight revelers lined down the block to enter, after which they were rewarded with flowing Dom Pérignon champagne, Basquiat artwork, and nightlife polaroids by photographer Maripol. On the gallery’s top floor, an all-out dance erupted to live jazz by Onyx Collective and a DJ set by Justin Strauss. Under the giant disco ball, partygoers sipped champagne and twirled well past midnight. Chin chin!