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Andy Warhol Has Turned Calvin Klein’s Flagship Store Into a Balloon-Filled Free-For-All

Shoppers, beware: Raf Simons has set a whole host of helium-filled balloons loose in an homage to the late artist.


Although it’s been three decades since Andy Warhol‘s death, the artist feels strangely present today—even managing to chime in to the criticism of Donald Trump. Over the past year, he’s also shown up in American Horror Story alongside Lena Dunham, had his works appear in a Calvin Klein campaign, and now made his biggest foray into the fashion world yet, courtesy of the Raf Simons-helmed mega-brand’s four-year partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Just like he did with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Simons is already make the most out of the arrangement—which in this case means supporting the foundation’s art grants in exchange for unprecedented access to (even unpublished parts of) Warhol’s estate. In case you were more focused on Kylie Jenner’s then potentially pregnant stomach than the venue in the brand’s last campaign, Simons has been really into barns lately, making it no surprise that along with 50,000 gallons of popcorn that guests like Laura Dern and Nicole Kidman had to slog through, Calvin Klein’s fall 2018 show was dominated by giant farmhouse façades—all of which, upon closer inspection, were emblazoned with prints of Warhol’s photographs.

Now, outside of the exclusive barns of New York Fashion Week, Simons has also resurrected some of Warhol’s work in the much more public space of Calvin Klein’s flagship store on Madison Avenue, which he’s already turned into something of an artist playground during his brief tenure at the brand. (The works of Dan Flavin and Sterling Ruby, for example, have recently shared the space with the brand’s wares.)

Until the end of February, it’s playing host to a work of Warhol’s just as fun (and certainly less dusty) than the popcorn: a recreation of his “Silver Clouds” installation, meaning that a whole host of silver balloons have been let loose to float around the shop (and shoppers) as they please, reinvigorated each morning with a fresh helium injection. Press play to take a look at some of their antics so far via Instagram, here.

Related: A Brief History of Donald Trump’s Unrequited Love of Andy Warhol, Who Called Him “Cheap”

That Time Andy Warhol Kissed John Lennon, and More of Christopher Makos’s Studio 54-Era Snapshots

Andy Warhol, Centre Pompidou, 1986. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol with Bikers on West Side Highway, NYC, 1981. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol, Detroit, 1985. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol, Altered Image, 1981. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol Painting the Flag, 1983. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol Applying Makeup to Debbie Harry, 1980. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol at Philip Johnson’s Glass House, 1981. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol Kissing John Lennon, 1978. Photo by Christopher Makos.

The Gang of Four at Studio 54 (Liza Minnelli, Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, and Halston), 1978. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol, Tiananmen Square, 1982. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1984. Photo by Christopher Makos.

David Hockney, 1977. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Keith Richards, 1977. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Lou Reed, 1978. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Mick Jagger, 1977. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Debbie Harry, 1977. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Andy Warhol Kissing Ultra Violet, 1978. Photo by Christopher Makos.

Keith Haring, 1983. Photo by Christopher Makos.

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