Andy  Warhol + Marilyn Monroe + Chanel no 5 =  Art + Fame + Success. Watercolor on paper.

The beauty mark, the sharp square bottle, the print style. The word “iconic” is thrown around loosely, but the above image blends three true icons. At a glance you know what they are and what they mean. Andy Warhol loved Marilyn’s celebrity; Marilyn loved Chanel No. 5; the House of Chanel loved Warhol’s pared back strength. Beauty, fame, and glamour connect the three of them. Each is an unapologetic marriage of masterly honed art and keen navigation of the commercial world.

Young Andy Warhol in New York City © Philip Pearlstein, 1949.

Before his fame and wealth, Warhol made his living as an illustrator for hire. He won advertising awards for his work for radio networks and pharmaceutical companies, but it was his editorial fashion and beauty drawings that won him attention.

Andy’s passion for perfume went into his Harper’s Bazaar illustrations. My favorite is the faux perfume for little girls, Tweedie. © Andy Warhol for Harper’s Bazaar.

Warhol drew a LOT of fragrance bottles for Harper’s Bazaar. In my fantasies, Andy was able to keep all the perfumes that Bazaar sent him to draw so that Warhol got an early whiff of the classics as they were released.

The Warhol windows for Bonwit Teller featured some of the most recognizable fragrances of the time. The little niches held perfume bottles. Images from the collections of The New School and the Andy Warhol Museum.

Sophisticated shoppers expected a lot from the windows at Bonwit Teller. The chic Fifth Avenue department store was known for stunning displays by artists like Salvador Dali and Jasper Johns. In the mid-1950s it was Andy Warhol’s turn. Bonwit’s commissioned him to create displays to promote popular perfumes like Arpege, MaGriffe, Miss Dior, Replique, and Mistigri. Strolling down the Avenue, magazine readers would recognize Warhol’s style of curlicues and tight details. Sadly, the original panels have been lost, but fortunately, we still have photos and sketches. Recently the Andy Warhol Museum used them to recreate the fences for an exhibit of Warhol’s commercial work.

Trademark Warhol processes of line drawing, silkscreen, and polaroid. I’m in love with the “Schalimar” drawing. Maybe he was thinking of Schiap when he wrote that? All images © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

The hard-working Warhol found “overnight” success in the art world returned to the subject of perfume again and again. Andy’s love of fragrance is a legend. He had a large collection and liked to switch up what he wore often. If he found himself in a stranger’s bathroom, he’d poke around to see what scent they wore. His collection is the hands of the Warhol Museum and I’m still waiting for them to publish a catalog on his olfactive treasures.

Andy the “Ad Man”: Lagerfeld, Halston and CHANEL

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Warhol continued to explore, and exploit, the relationship between art and capitalism. If he could be on Love Boat he certainly could create ads for designer perfumes like Halston. Were they ads or art? For $2.50 you could see the image in Vogue, or you could spend $25,000 at auction for the original print.

So here we are in the 21st century and Warhol and perfume are still joined at the hip. Bond No. 9 had an entire line dedicated to Andy.  Master Perfumer Maurice Roucel created Andy Warhol’s You’re In for Comme des Garçons. And of course, there is the Andy Warhol brand. Andy would love a lineup of bottles decorated with his face, quotes, and dollar signs.

If only he’d been around to see them.

– Marianne Butler, Sr. Contributor

Digital art © Marianne