How does one of the world’s most prestigious champagne brands sell bubbly in the immediate aftermath of a pandemic? Lady Gaga and Dom Pérignon’s chef de cave Vincent Chaperon share their thoughts with Tatler on their second collaboration and what it means to put your back into the act of creation
A metronome ticks. Vines stretch out into the distance. The curtain rises as Lady Gaga, cultural tour de force, platinum blonde hair immaculately coiffed, sits alone in a darkened room and puts pen to paper, writing the first notes of a melody. The piano sounds, and a troupe of statuesque dancers spring to life in the time-worn cloisters of a French monastery. Dressed in a diaphanous blue-grey gown, Lady Gaga gestures and the ensemble follows, motioning in unison towards the heavens. The strings build and, as the music crests, three dancers ascend above the spire of the church.
So goes the short film that forms the crux of champagne house Dom Pérignon’s second collaboration with the singer, this time with the Dom Pérignon Vintage 2013 at its heart. Shot by French music video director and singer-songwriter Woodkid in a palette of stark monochrome interspersed with sparse colour, and featuring visceral, balletic performances created by decorated Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, it underlines the message at the core of the brand: that the act of creation is the result of passionate, unremitting work rather than a singular flash of inspiration.
The labour of creation, Gaga tells Tatler in the penthouse suite of the West Hollywood Edition in Los Angeles, means “that you need to work hard. Without being too crass, it’s not just about taking a photo with your iPhone. You have to put in the work. This campaign was about those of us who have made it our life mission. That’s all we do. I spent all day today making art, all day—it is a labour of love. And I think it’s important to do that because it’s a real privilege to make art.”
The idea of labour is built into the foundations of the Dom Pérignon brand; indeed, the brand’s namesake, 17th-century monk Dom Pierre Pérignon, belonged to the Benedictine Order, whose motto reads “ora et labora” (“pray and work” in Latin), which he lived by, and which remains the guiding ethos of the maison. Pérignon’s own daily regimen in the Abbey Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers—the home of the brand and the setting of the short film—consisted of prayer, religious studies and manual labour, all in pursuit of a closer relationship with God. This spartan ideal is made evident throughout the short film, from the spare score to the muted colours of the dancers’ leotards.
It’s a massive contrast to Dom Pérignon’s first collaboration with Gaga, which exploded onto the public consciousness in 2021 with a Nick Knight-directed video that played like a fever dream, replete with fractal headdresses, illusory mirrored halls and a strings-backed remix of Gaga’s pop anthem Free Woman.
See also: Lady Gaga on her glamorous collaboration with Dom Pérignon
