Chilling encounter

Veuve Clicquot's latest collaboration evokes sunny climes but keeps its cool

- WRITER: ROSA BERTOLI

Following in the footsteps of Yayoi Kusama and Paola Paronetto, French fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus is the latest creative tasked by French champagne house Veuve Clicquot with reinterpreting La Grande Dame. Its premium cuvée is a tribute to Barbe Nicole Ponsardin, also known as Madame Clicquot, who took over her late husband’s wine business, becoming the first female champagne producer and introducing several innovations into the champagne-making process.

Jacquemus has worked with the 2018 iteration, the 25th vintage of the cuvée launched in 1972. Jacquemus has always been a lifestyle brand, going beyond Born and raised in the South of France, Jacquemus' work is heavily influenced by his Mediterranean upbringing and the region's luminosity, and this collaboration is no exception, particularly as the current cuvée is described by its maker as 'a wine with a sunny soul. Its colour is bright and luminous. Its precise style is characterised by a subtle finesse and freshness, expressed through its salinity.'