Designer Drinks

Celebrities of all types have been increasingly active in the alcoholic beverage space, entering into licensing agreements, short-term collaborations, and joint ventures, as well as launching their own companies, to create new brands of beer, wine, and spirits. As fashion designers have expanded their businesses well beyond couture and ready-to-wear into a broader lifestyle positioning, they have increasingly been represented in this sector as well. Several have noted in their launch announcements that all of their business ventures are tied together by a spirit of celebration, making alcoholic beverages a good fit.

Some recent initiatives:

• Last month, Vera Wang, known for her wedding dresses as well as a broad array of licensed categories, debuted a prosecco under the Vera Wang PARTY brand, in partnership with Araldica, an Italian sparkling wine maker. This follows a limited-edition vodka from Poland, which partner Chopin launched this past spring. Wang personally selected the potato that was used to make that product, and a poem on the bottle describes Wang’s passion for vodka, her drink of choice.

• Luxury womenswear designer Rosie Assoulin paired with sommelier Cedric Nicaise and her husband Max Assoulin to create a line of natural wines with French winemaker Domaine La Bohème. The brand, Vivanterre, was introduced in August 2020. The designer is widely recognized for her love of entertaining. The first products included a red Gamay and a skin-contact white (an orangey white wine made, like red wines, with skin-on grapes). Two more varieties have been added since then.

• Menswear designer John Varvatos teamed with singer Nick Jonas and Stoli Group’s Fabrica de Tequilas Finos for a line of tequila under the Villa One brand. The first three varieties, silver, reposado, and añejo, launched in fall 2019 and all three are still on the market. Varvatos and Jonas had previously worked together on two fragrances, an apparel line, and a documentary about the Jonas Brothers.

• In June 2020, Dolce & Gabbana launched a special-edition rosé wine with Italian winemakers Donnafugata. The wine was from a 2019 vintage and incorporated Nerello Mascalese and Nocera grapes from Sicily. The two had paired back in 2016 for a limited-edition Tancredi described as “a prestigious red for collectors.”

Several celebrities who established their names through acting or music but have since crossed over into the world of fashion design have also introduced brands into the alcoholic beverage landscape. They include Sarah Jessica Parker, who has released two Sauvignon Blanc wines with Invino & Co. since 2019; Travis Scott and his Cactus Jack brand, which launched Cacti spiked seltzer with Anheuser Busch this year; Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who purchased 50% of Diageo’s DeLeon premium tequila brand in 2014 after serving as brand ambassador for the spirits maker’s Cîroc vodka; and Kate Hudson, who co-founded Hudson Bellamy Wines in 2011 and introduced her King St. vodka brand in 2019 with David Kanbar, co-creator of Skinnygirl spirits with Real Housewife Bethenny Frankel.