There’s few designers alive today that can boast the kind of clout and credentials that Kim Jones can and English designer has now partnered with an equally iconic brand: Hennessy X.O.
For several years now, the LVMH-owned Hennessy X.O has worked with artists and visionaries to develop limited edition expressions of the iconic X.O bottle. These collaborations serve as a personal dialogue between artist and the liquor, a point of exchange that you could say is built upon a shared passion for excellence.
And each is unique. For architect Frank Gehry, this took the form of a decanter that resembled something volcanic and organic: a crumpled gold skin that sat in a bed of exploding glass. According to Gehry, this was inspired by “play of sunshine hitting the surface of the Charente as it flows over a riverbed of rocks”.
As Dior Menswear creative director, Jones’ native tongue is in the twists and folds of tailoring so it’s not surprising that this art – the manipulation of fabrics – should be the basis of his creation for the latest Hennessy X.O collaboration.
Encasing the familiar curves of the bottle is a conceptual shell crafted from titanium that replicates the couture techniques of draping, like fabric sculpted from gold. But it’s also more than that. Jones, ever the consummate researcher, has delved into the archives of Hennessy for inspiration.
This twisting second skin also evokes an older tradition, back at the turn of the 20th Century, when Hennessy bottles were carefully hand-enveloped in tissue paper as a way of protecting their fragile parchment paper labels.
Two versions of the case exist: a ready-to-wear, simplified concept made with lightweight and durable aluminium and the Masterpiece edition, created using 3D printing technology and finished by hand with more intricate folds. Only 200 examples of the Hennessy X.O x Kim Jones Masterpiece edition have been created.
To add extra flavour to an already rich palate of pleasures, Jones has also collaborated with Hennessy X.O to create a limited edition series of sneakers. The HNY Low, as they’re called, have been crafted in an LVHM-owned shoe factory in Italy and are inspired by early basketball shoes, a silhouette that Jones is known to be fond of while colourways reflect the hues of the cognac itself.
Each pair of the HNY Low are presented in an oak box that revisits the barrels used to age Hennessy X.O, with a wavy top that mimics the plateau for the Hennessy X.O Masterpiece designed by Kim Jones.
The Hennessy X.O x Kim Jones collaboration is now available online. For more information, check out the Hennessy website here.
