Havana Club Enters Martine Rose’s World for Latest Collaboration

Eclectic, subcultural and beautifully garish; Martine Rose is an unmistakable force in the creative scene, one that has come to represent a new generation of fashion enthusiasts with her dramatic collections. In her latest venture, though, the designer changes course, designing a limited-edition Havana Club bottle.

Despite her long history of fashion-focused collaborations, the new Havana Club partnership felt “particularly right” to Martine Rose. As well as joining the rum brand’s prestigious roster of past collaborators – like Skepta and Places+Faces – it’s the designer’s Jamaican heritage that motivated her to take on this collaboration.

“We get offered so many opportunities, some are right and others are not,” she tells Hypebeast. “But, having this shared Caribbean heritage was special.” With a mere 50 kilometers from Jamaica to Havana Club’s home country, Cuba, Martine Rose harnessed distinctive styles inspired by the region in the design, including mosaic forms and a fresh palette reminiscent of the tropical landscape.

It’s all about life, vibrancy, warmth, and celebration. That really added to the excitement of doing this.

Continuing to ensure that there was a close-knit connection with the sense of “everyday” present in her garments, the designer also weaved in her signature heart print, which recently made an appearance in her FW25 collection. “Whenever I do a collaboration, it’s always in the spirit of creating a fusion,” she explains on the vibrant melting pot of inspiration. “It has to feel like it has my DNA and, of course, the brand’s too.”

Ahead of the release, Hypebeast caught up with the designer in London to discover the process behind giving her go-to rum brand a celebratory makeover. Keep reading to find out more.

Hypebeast: Tell us a bit about how you initially approached the bottle design.
Martine Rose: I started off by going through our archives and looking at the spectrum of things that we wanted to do. We knew we wanted to create something that felt vibrant and celebratory, so we began pulling things together and went through a few iterations of what works on a bottle – because that’s also a very specific canvas.

How did this process differ from creating a collection of clothes?
Usually, I work with a silhouette or fabric which is free-flowing. But with this, you have to be able to communicate something very punchy in a very small space. The interesting thing about designing a bottle is that its product design, which means you have a very finite scope. It has to fit a certain dimension, and it has to communicate a message. Those aspects filter out quite a lot of things. It all comes down to color, texture, surface area, and the message.

How do the colors, textures and prints complement your wider FW25 collection?
We introduced the heart print from the FW25 collection, but just changed the colorway to fit with this. It brings a sense of the everyday that we love to play with, and that particular collection was ultimately about market traders and the cultural life of London. It’s symbolic and those underlying messages are really important, so it felt right to have this print on so many levels.

What aspects of your Jamaican heritage did you incorporate into the design?
There are also a lot of similarities in the way that we represent Jamaica and the way we represent Cuba. It’s all about life, vibrancy, warmth, and celebration. That really added to the excitement of doing this. Oh, and I love rum – straight up with no mixer!

Whether it’s a professional dancer or a man in a living room, there’s something very human and relatable about dance

Havana Club is known for its vibrant and high-spirited campaign visuals. What was the vision behind your campaign, and how did you bring it to life?
Again, we tapped into the themes of vibrancy and life. It’s something we typically go off in our own brand campaigns, especially that element of dance. We’ve had lots of campaigns of people dancing because there’s something so joyful about watching someone dance. Whether it’s a professional dancer or a man in a living room, there’s something very human and relatable about dance so we wanted to bring that into the campaign.

The casting process was no different to what we would do at our brand. We welcomed a range of people – from young to old – and all the different types of dance styles. Then, we started to narrow it down, and in the end, it came together quite organically. We wanted something that felt fun and I think it does achieve that.

Looking back on working with Havana Club, what was your favorite part of the process?
It’s always the outcome. The process is always enlightening, whatever you’re working on, but I’m really proud of the outcome. I love the design. I love the campaign. Both really communicate the message that we wanted to.

Shop the new Havana Club x Martine Rose limited edition bottle in selected stores.

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