270–LOVE

Moët & Chandon, with its legacy and history of fine champagne, chose not the vineyards of France but Pier 59 at Chelsea Piers in New York City as the backdrop for its 270th birthday celebration. Roger Federer, the brand’s newest ambassador, was on hand to host the soirée, arriving at the same time as his fashion-world bestie, Anna Wintour, who was helicopterchauffeured from Long Island to the venue.

While the tennis pro and editrix posed for photos by a backdrop, guests enjoyed sublime views on the terrace, and took advantage of a photo booth well stocked with magnum Moët & Chandon bottles – empty, of course, all the easier for the lifting. Smaller bottles were toted by smartly dressed waiters, the contents duly spilled into waiting flutes held between the fingers of New York’s bold and beautiful.

The festivities officially began when a gigantic logo-emblazoned box surrounded – like a tennis court – by a wire cage was lifted towards the ceiling, revealing not Federer himself, as some had hoped, but a glowing and smoking dessert spread worthy of Marie Antoinette’s approval. Guests thus diverted, the room darkened and a hologram version of Federer chased and hit tennis balls across walls, before the flesh-and-blood, suited-up man was revealed alongside Stéphane Baschiera, Moët & Chandon’s president and CEO. “Maybe,” Federer teased, “if you all drink a glass of Moët every day, we will all get to 270 years too.”

Soon after, the duo appeared beneath the biggest cake you’ll ever see, a Goliath-sized creation topped by a gilded Statue of Liberty. What could top that? Possibly only the golden girl of contemporary music: Emeli Sandé, who performed a three-song set on the piano, including her smash hit, “Next to Me”. While she and other celebrity guests – including Tyson Beckford, Josh Lucas, Leigh Lezark and Kelly Rutherford – lounged on the retro-cool clear inflatable furniture that dotted the area, Bob Sinclar manned the decks until the evening’s end.