Kim Jones collaborates with Hennessy X.O on exclusive sneakers

British designer Kim Jones, artistic director of men’s collections at Dior and head of womenswear at Fendi, has unveiled his first collaboration with a spirits brand, teaming up with Hennessy X.O cognac on an exclusive three-piece collection.

The collaboration marks Hennessy X.O’s first consumer-facing luxury fashion item, combining the spirit brand’s 150-year heritage with Jones’ creative vision to merge "cognac and couture". The collection includes a Masterpiece decanter, a ‘ready to wear’ Hennessy X.O limited edition bottle, and a pair of HNY Low by Kim Jones limited edition sneakers.

The collectable sneakers, designed by Jones, have been inspired by early basketball shoes and crafted in a light cognac-coloured nubuck leather in an LVMH-owned shoe factory in Italy. A technical sole in tonal grooved rubber features an imprint of cognac vines and the Hennessy X.O x Kim Jones logo on its underside, while the initials KJ and the Hennessy emblem adorn the heel.

“I wanted it to be elevated and chic, to reflect both the long heritage of cognac and my own design values,” explained Jones in a statement, who also transposed the curves of the Hennessy X.O bottle onto the sneaker. “I wanted it to feel like you’re almost looking into the bottle. It’s a glass of cognac in sneaker form.”

In addition, each pair of HNY Low by Kim Jones comes in a cotton dust bag bound by a high-end drawstring, a shape recalling bottles that used to be wrapped in thick paper during travel. The sneakers are also presented in an oak box that revisits the barrels used to age the spirit.

Hennessy X.O unveils first luxury fashion item with Kim Jones

Alongside the sneakers, Jones has also designed an ultra-luxury Hennessy X.O Masterpiece decanter and limited edition bottle, produced using 3D printing technology and finished by hand. The sculptural decanter aims to demonstrate how humanity and technology can work together to create something unique, “like a piece of bespoke couture for a bottle,” adds Jones in the press release.

The Hennessy X.O Masterpiece draws inspiration from the making of Hennessy X.O and utilises a specially developed titanium casing that encapsulates the bottle like an architectural second skin. Its twisting folds evoke both the couture technique of draping and how, at the turn of the 20th century Hennessy bottles were carefully hand-enveloped in tissue paper as a way of protecting their fragile parchment paper labels, explains the spirits brand. To extract the liquid Jones also designed a fusil.

The decanter has also been dipped in gradient colours; an effect inspired by the shades of the different eaux-de-vie selected by the Master Blender to compose Hennessy X.O.

Jones added: “When I saw how the vintage Hennessy bottles were wrapped, it spoke volumes to me about how precious each one is, and how they were handled. I was particularly touched by their history, and the sense of how generations have dedicated their time to making each step of the process better and better. That same process also holds true with fashion.”

Hennessy X.O x Kim Jones

The final piece is the Hennessy X.O limited edition ‘ready-to-wear’ version of the decanter, where the Hennessy X.O bottle is encased in an aluminium second skin. The structure has been designed to showcase the signature shape of the bottle while evoking a couture silhouette.

Laurent Boillot, chief executive at Hennessy, said: "We are thrilled to embark on a new odyssey blending cognac-making and couture with Kim Jones, a creative master of our time. Inspired by the emblematic personality of Hennessy X.O, Kim has developed a resolutely contemporary collection that is destined to make an impact on culture today and in the future.”

The Hennessy X.O x Kim Jones collection is available online at HBX.com from March 17 and in-store at Flannels in London from March 27. The sneakers will retail for 620 pounds, while the Hennessy X.O limited edition 70cl is priced at 200 pounds, and the Hennessy X.O Masterpiece will cost 25,000 pounds.