This October, luxury Scotch whisky brand Johnnie Walker will unveil its second collaboration with fashion designer Olivier Rousteing through “The Couture Blend” — a limited-edition run created by the brand’s master blender Dr. Emma Walker, with an accompanying crystal decanter and a £600 flask designed by Rousteing.
The first whisky in partnership with the designer launched in early 2025 with “The Couture Expression” collection. The series of four bespoke blends, inspired by the seasons, is an offering from the new Johnnie Walker Vault: an atelier under Edinburgh’s Princes Street, where the brand, with a 200+ year heritage, houses a library of 500 rare whiskies and creates made-to-measure blends. With Rousteing, the brand wanted to explore how the art of couture could meet the art of blending.
“Whatever collaboration I do, I do with my heart — with authenticity and with emotion,” Rousteing told BoF, sharing the connection the brand has to memories of his mother and grandfather. “Understanding the heritage of Johnnie Walker was a special and unique experience, [exploring] a tension between present and past.”
Through the Johnnie Walker Vault, the luxury spirits company offers clients access to its extensive archive, as well as innovative offerings that meet evolving consumer expectations today — including exclusive and unique luxury experiences such as a £50,000 one-on-one session with Dr. Walker to create a bespoke, individualised whisky.
“Fashion is about bringing people into a luxe world. You build a universe beyond collections and [that’s] what we created with Johnnie Walker Vault. You create an entire journey for people, not only a bottle but an experience, ritual and a ceremony around it,” Rousteing adds.
In recent years, the convergence of fashion and luxury spirits has become an increasingly common strategy for brands seeking to expand their cultural relevance and reach new audiences, with collaborations in this space tapping into shared values of craftsmanship, exclusivity and storytelling.
“There are a lot of parallels between the worlds of fashion and the artistry of blending. They’re both about pushing boundaries and not being afraid to take risks,” shares Rousteing. “‘The Couture Blend’ brings these together in homage to personal evolution, fearless artistry and creative tension. By bringing whisky and couture together, Johnnie Walker Vault aims to open the world of whisky to more people and attract new customers.”
Creating these experiences speaks to the shifting expectations and interests of high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs and UHNWIs) today. Indeed, BoF and McKinsey & Co.’s The State of Fashion: Luxury report 2025 saw 64 percent of surveyed UHNWIs express excitement to spend more on categories like travel and hospitality, while 80 percent of HNWIs are expected to shift part of their spend to experiential luxury.
Consequently, a growing number of fashion brands are exploring opportunities in hospitality, food and beverage and broader luxury experiences.
“[When] I started [in] fashion, there was only one world and it was fashion. Today, fashion needs entertainment, fashion needs art. Fashion is music, fashion is lifestyle — and, obviously, Johnnie Walker is about a lifestyle,” says Rousteing.
Over recent years, Johnnie Walker has worked on other fashion collaborations through its luxury Blue Label offering — including a partnership with skiwear brand Perfect Moment designed to unlock an underexplored space for whisky in après-ski.
Now, BoF sits down with Julie Bramham, global managing director at Diageo Luxury Group, an arm of Johnnie Walker parent company Diageo, to learn more about the strategy behind the luxury Scotch whisky’s foray into fashion partnerships and how to craft the luxury experiences consumers expect today.
How are you engaging today’s luxury consumer and what role are luxury experiences playing in this strategy?
Luxury isn’t just about products — it’s about experiences that resonate with people, creating moments that inspire them and memories that will stay with them. Products form an important part of that mix, but we believe luxury experiences are the key to elevating your brand above competitors. That’s why they play such an integral role in our strategy to recruit new customers.
Today’s luxury consumers expect more from prestige spirits; they want exceptionally rare products and heightened access to people and places that are usually off limits to others. The recently launched Johnnie Walker Vault Experience is one of the ways that we’re responding to this.
I think we will continue to see the proliferation of luxury experiences across the board — there will be an increasing number of brands launching limited editions and rare expressions to drive home the message of scarcity, and we will likely see more drink brands elevating themselves to the status of a lifestyle brand as they build a whole ecosystem around their core offer.
How did the concept of the Johnnie Walker Vault come about?
We launched the Johnnie Walker Vault earlier this year as a global luxury platform to celebrate our blending artistry — uniting bespoke blends, luxurious experiences and collaborations with cultural icons all under one visionary banner.
Sitting at the heart of all this is the artistry of Dr. Emma Walker, her ability to tell personal stories, and her skill in turning a selection of carefully curated, rare whiskies into beautiful blends.
Luxury isn’t just about products — it’s about experiences that resonate with people, creating moments that inspire them and memories that will stay with them.
— Julie Bramham, global luxury managing director at Diageo Luxury Group
For example, there is a £50,000 Johnnie Walker Vault Private Blend Experience, where visitors can join Emma in Scotland to create a unique expression that is completely personalised to the customer. Luxury spirit drinkers seek increasingly rare products, and this offering combines that desire with unique access to Emma for a rare experience.
How do you balance messaging around brand heritage with modernisation strategies?
It is important to adapt to the needs of consumers in a way that continues to deliver the quality they expect. Honouring our heritage requires looking to the future — to continue driving innovation whilst maintaining the quality for which we are known.
Playing into a brand’s heritage should always be about looking back to the past, taking the elements that still stand today — [whether that’s] quality, design or values — and reinterpreting them in new ways.
How does Diageo Luxury Group and Johnnie Walker identify brand partnership opportunities and collaborators, like with Olivier Rousteing?
Brand partnerships start with shared values, purpose and a belief that we can really create something exceptional together. It has to be a real partnership that goes beyond just an exchange of deliverables — the partnership needs to be meaningful, authentic and exciting for both parties.
It’s important to look beyond your industry to unexpected places and partners for inspiration in order to really drive your creativity forward.
— Julie Bramham, global luxury managing director at Diageo Luxury Group
With Olivier, for example, we were keen to partner with him for a while, but wanted to find the right opportunity — and the right time — to approach him.
We wanted this particular project to be all about personal journeys, so we needed to make sure it was an authentic fit with the Johnnie Walker brand. Olivier’s story is one of progress and reinvention, aligning with our core values and the spirit of the brand. When we first connected to discuss what the partnership could become, he immediately had big ideas, and we loved his input and energy.
What can fashion learn or leverage from the luxury drinks industry?
It’s important to look beyond your industry to unexpected places and partners for inspiration in order to really drive your creativity forward. The partnership between Emma and Olivier is a great example of this, bringing together two creatives at the height of their craft — each renowned for pushing the boundaries of their art. This process has led to the exchange of inspiration and creativity.
“The Couture Expression” and “The Couture Blend” are born from combining the craft of couture with the craft of blending. Emma and Olivier are both incredibly skilled creatives from different industries who have come together to learn from one another.
Looking ahead, we plan to keep partnering with those at the forefront of their craft and tell their stories through the art of blending.
This is a sponsored feature paid for by Johnnie Walker Vault as part of a BoF partnership.
