Steve Madden uncorks a new kind of style with limited-edition Pinot Gris

Steve Madden

The collaboration blurs the line between fashion, lifestyle, and culture, and tests how far the brand can stretch in Australia.

Shoes and wine, two staples many (ahem, this writer) would argue are essential to survival.

Now global fashion icon Steve Madden has combined the two, stepping into the wine world with Melbourne Winery for his first-ever limited-edition Pinot Gris.

Launched in early September, the Steve Madden x Melbourne Winery Pinot Gris (RRP $47) is available in limited quantities online and at the winery’s Flinders Lane venue.

Each bottle is wrapped in a co-designed label that nods to both brands’ DNA, while the campaign imagery, shot on the streets of Melbourne, fuses laneway fashion with the city’s love of food and wine.

Fashion meets fermentation

For Steve Madden Australia’s Marketing Manager, Jamie Kouktzelas, the collaboration is about pushing boundaries while staying true to the brand’s expressive identity.

“We wanted to collaborate on something that felt like an extension of our brand; social, expressive, culturally relevant and hasn’t been done before in Australia to push boundaries and blur lines,” she told Mediaweek.

The goal, she added, was to connect more deeply with the brand’s “urban, glam and style-confident” customer segment through something that “felt like the perfect way to connect with them in a fresh and authentic way.”

A lifestyle where fashion and wine coexist

For Kathryn Mayall, Group Marketing Manager at Barman & Larder, parent company of Melbourne Winery, the collaboration was a natural fit.

“The spark came from recognising that both fashion and wine are about more than products, they shape moments, style, and the way people connect,” she said.

From the outset, Mayall wanted Melbourne Winery to feel more like a fashion label than a bottle shop.

“Even our website was designed to feel more like a fashion brand, closer to Meshki or Steve Madden than a traditional bottle shop, because I always believed wine should sit in the same cultural space as fashion.”

That mindset, she said, is part of a wider cultural shift. “Now, that crossover is everywhere. Hospitality borrows from fashion, fashion borrows from food, and sensory-driven experiences are shaping how big brands like Gucci engage with their audiences.”

Treating wine like a fashion collection

Both brands are treating Concrete Jungle, the campaign name for the Pinot Gris collaboration, as more than a product launch; it’s a lifestyle play.

Kouktzelas said: “We’re treating the Concrete Jungle collaboration with the same creative lens as our footwear campaigns. Strong storytelling mixed with bold visuals and a focus on self-expression. It’s less about product shots and more about capturing a lifestyle where fashion and wine naturally coexist.”

For Mayall, that approach mirrors the way fashion tells stories through experience.

“It’s not just about the visuals, it’s about the experience,” she explained. “Yes, we do bold campaigns and fashion-style shoots, but we also build real moments around it: tarot readings with wine, wine Pilates, wine tastings and bottomless brunches. It’s content and experience working together.”

Building cultural relevance across categories

Kouktzelas sees collaborations like this as vital to building cultural equity for both brands.

“Cultural relevance comes from being part of conversations outside your immediate category that resonate to your target market,” she said.

“For Steve Madden and Melbourne Winery, this collaboration places us in new spaces like fashion, dining, nightlife. This way we can both reach audiences in fresh and unexpected ways and create connections in social moments that cement us as not just a product they buy, but as part of the lifestyle they live.”

Mayall agreed, adding that cross-category partnerships open new doors.

“For me, cultural relevance is about showing up in the spaces people already care about, not just selling a product. Collaborations help us do that. For Steve Madden, it’s stepping into lifestyle and hospitality. For us, it’s pulling wine into conversations where fashion is already leading.”

Breaking from tradition

Mayall said the wine industry has long relied on storytelling rooted in heritage, something she’s deliberately reimagining.

“Fashion gives us permission to constantly evolve. Wine, on the other hand, often gets stuck telling the same story, the vineyard, the soil, the barrels. And while that story matters, how many times can you tell it before people stop listening?”

She added: “Taking cues from fashion gives us a new story every time, one that feels fresh, culturally relevant, and easy for people to connect with. The risk of disruption is outweighed by the opportunity to connect with an audience that might otherwise look past wine in favour of spirits, cocktails, or other lifestyle-driven drinks.”

Testing brand stretch and staying authentic

For Kouktzelas, the collaboration doubles as a brand experiment for Steve Madden’s Australian market presence.

“We’ll be tracking brand awareness, social engagement, and brand sentiment across our touchpoints in relation to this collaboration,” she said. “For us right now, the real-time data on these metrics are just as critical as sell-through.”

And while stepping into wine might raise eyebrows, Kouktzelas said authenticity remains front and centre.

“Authenticity comes from staying true to our DNA; bold, boundary-pushing, and unapologetic. This isn’t about becoming a wine brand, it’s about extending the Steve Madden lifestyle into moments that already matter to our audience.”

For both brands, Concrete Jungle is less a one-off experiment than a signal of what’s to come. As Mayall put it: “For us, this is only the beginning, the first of many ways we’ll keep reimagining what wine can be.”

Keep on top of the most important media, marketing, and agency news each day with the Mediaweek Morning Report – delivered for free every morning to your inbox.

To Top