What happens when the street meets luxury for a one-of-a-kind event that results in an iconic cultural blend? Hennessy X.O announced an extraordinary collaboration with Kim Jones, the globally acclaimed British Artistic Director, combining the depth of a 150-year cognac legacy and an artist’s distinct vision.
‘’Kim has developed a resolutely contemporary collection that is destined to make an impact on culture today and in the future’,” said Laurent Boillot, the CEO of Hennessy who noted Jones as ‘a creative master of our time’.
The designer pays homage to cognac-making and couture for Hennessy X.O, two processes that touch on a grasp of science and the natural world, as well as artisanal workmanship and savoir-faire. He follows in the footsteps of a powerful lineage of great masters, like Frank Gehry, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Ridley Scott, who have helped solidify Hennessy X.O’s cultural relevance throughout the years.
“Storytelling is very important for me regardless of what I’m designing or who I’m collaborating with – I want my designs to educate and inspire people through the stories they tell’’, explained Kim Jones.
Designed by Kim Jones and crafted in an LVMH-owned shoe factory in Italy, the limited-edition HNY Low by Kim Jones is inspired by early basketball shoes that are made of a light cognac-coloured nubuck leather, a material that takes on the patina of time, a reference to the precious eaux-de-vie. The sneakers are presented in an oak box that revisits the barrels used to age the eaux-de-vie, its wavy top echoing the plateau for the Hennessy X.O Masterpiece designed by Kim Jones
The Hennessy X.O Masterpiece is inspired by the skill of creating Hennessy X.O, which has been refined by eight generations of Master Blenders. A specifically designed titanium enclosure completely encases the bottle, acting as an architectural second skin. Its twisting folds remind both the couture method of draping and the way Hennessy bottles were painstakingly hand-enveloped in tissue paper at the start of the twentieth century to safeguard their fragile parchment paper labels.
As for the Hennessy X.O’s limited-edition bottle, it is encased in an aluminium second skin, with its structure highlighting the bottle’s unique form while recalling a couture silhouette. A real symbol of the fusion of fashion and culture, as well as greatness and legacy.