Olivier Rousteing's Liquid Couture with Johnnie Walker Vault
Sensory experience is the ultimate luxury. Fashion’s most revered designers and creative directors strive to offer their clients experiences beyond clothing, often through perfume - an invisible accessory – but what about Johnnie Walker whisky?
Sensory experience is the ultimate luxury. Fashion’s most revered designers and creative directors strive to offer their clients experiences beyond clothing, often through perfume - an invisible accessory – but what about Johnnie Walker whisky?
Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, has partnered with the newly founded Johnnie Walker Vault on a limited-edition collection of four blends crafted in the spirit of Rousteing's celebrated couture collections. Retailing at $20,000 per bottle, the rarefied nature of couture dressmaking in fashion finds its cousin in whisky, as Rousteing swaps his atelier for the Johnnie Walker Princes Street vault in Edinburgh, and petits mains for Master Blender, Dr. Emma Walker.
Rousteing began carving out a new vision for luxury at Balmain when he took the helm at just 25 years old in 2011, accelerating sales and developing a unique image of Parisian cool at the brand. There have been fashion and whisky collaborations before - but not like this. 'What started as a collaboration to create one special release became a creative exploration of four seasons, just like a couture collection. For me, the seasons bring different energy and emotions - the feeling of rebirth in Spring, the hazy freedom of Summer, the self-reflection of Fall and the coziness of home and family in Winter - that Emma so beautifully captured in the collection', Rousteing explains.
Dr. Walker (she shares her name with the Johnnie Walker family by pure coincidence), is the first female master blender in the brand's over 200 year history, earning the position in 2022. The doctor of organic chemistry began working for Diagio, Johnnie Walker’s parent company, in 2008. Mirroring the seasons of couture, Walker and Rousteing present four seasonal whisky blends. Rose Gold for Spring, Silver for Summer, Gold for Autumn and Black for Winter. 'Olivier brought an emotional language to the blending creation, and we worked together to explore what whisky can express - technically, sensorially and artistically. We deliberately chose to use the same whiskies across several of the seasons, playing with proportions, textures and seasonal notes to create four distinct expressions of whiskies', says Walker.
The Johnnie Walker Vault is a treasure trove of 500 rare whiskies, which are blended in the Edinburgh atelier. Two vintage whiskies from ghost distilleries form the base of Couture Expression. Ghost distilleries are those which are no longer in operation - making their remaining casks low in supply and high in demand. Walker treats whisky as Rousteing may treat rare fabric or embroidery techniques, working on the new blends over 12 months.
Renowned French house Baccarat have lent their artisanal hand to the bottling of these rare blends, producing square crystal decanters with metallic drape-like elements. A phoenix-like gold wing stopper finishes the striking vessel, referencing Rousteing's overcoming of personal trauma, when a fireplace explosion left him burnt in 2020.
Johnnie Walker Vault x Olivier Rousteing Couture Expression will pre-launch at Harrods on 5 May 2025.
Priced at £16,000 each, the collection of launches globally from 26 May, with only 25 bottles of each season available worldwide.
