The best things in life are free: the Chanel-inspired The Classique Sensation cocktail by Sofitel. Photo / Supplied
The best things in life are free: the Chanel-inspired The Classique Sensation cocktail by Sofitel. Photo / Supplied
It's a self-proclaimed "masterpiece" cocktail with a price tag to turn you T-total.
The Classique Sensation is a $430 drink so fancy it comes in its own 'cocktail dress'.
The Sofitel Melbourne created the drink as part of a menu to celebrate the life of French fashion designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The Atrium Bar will be serving up the limited-edition cocktail with a gob-smacking price until 26 April.
Made from Richard Hennessy Paradis Cognac and Marc de Champagne liqueur, the drink is accented with 24 karat gold and presented in a miniature 'Chanel' couture jacket. Sofitel sourced the fabric for the jacket from the same mills as the design house, to serve with a flourish.
Chanel's Little Black Dress inspired cocktail at Sofitel Melbourne. Photo / Supplied
Of course, it wouldn't be a Chanel inspired cocktail menu without a Little Black Dress. The elegant $140 tipple is coloured with black cocoa syrup, and mixed from Taittinger Nocturne Champagne, Chateau du Tariquet Blanche Armagnac, Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur.
There are five drinks in total, including the cocktails Le Mélange Unique made from French whisky, perfumed vodkaChanel Number 35 and La Collection Rose coloured with pink Szechuan peppercorns, Massenez and adorned with a tiny pick handbag.
Sofitel's pink drink La Collection Rose created to celebrate fashion designer Coco Chanel. Photo / Supplied
Manifesto: Coco Chanel's life in 100 dresses
The celebratory drinks toast the success of The National Gallery of Victoria's exhibition Fashion Manifesto, the first dedicated to Chanel in Australia.
It features over 100 outfits and jewellery from the Parisian fashion house.
Celebrating the principles of "comfort, streamlined simplicity and ease" six-decade long career from 1910 to the 1970s.
The exhibition is narrated by actress Tilda Swinton, lending her voice to the history of the fashion house and the famous monogram CC.
Despite her Impeccable taste in fashion, "Coco" had an unsavoury taste in friends.
Anne Sainte-Marie in a Chanel suit, 1955. Photo / Henry Clarke, Vogue US, supplied NGV
The designer's brief stint as a Nazi agent "Westminster" and time spent in exile in Switzerland were glossed over. ABC's review of the Melbourne said that the NGV's blockbuster exhibition was very light on biography, focusing instead on the garments.
The only scandalous details to be found are in lace and embroidery, rather than Chanel's service record for the Sicherheitsdienst. The titleFashion Manifesto gains some unfortunate connotations.
Fashion Manifesto: The Gabrielle Chanel exhibition runs until late April in the Melbourne National Gallery of Victoria. Photo / Julien T. Hamon
Although the saccharine exhibition fails to explore the darker notes of Gabrielle Chanel's complex character - it is a celebration of one of the 20th century's most visionary designers.
Likely not everyone's cup of tea, we can recommend an excellent $400 palate cleanser.
