FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2026

Jean Cocteau scholar and Gucci heiress Chloë Cassens launches SACRED MONSTER Volume 2, a new collection of essays celebrating Jean Cocteau’s lasting influence on contemporary culture at Librairie 1909 in Paris

Chloë Cassens. Photo (left): ©studiolazareff

Paris, France – Chloë Cassens launches SACRED MONSTER Volume 2 with a release party at Librairie 1909 in Paris on June 6, 2026, 18:00 – 21:00. 

The granddaughter of Severin Wunderman (the founder of Gucci Timepieces) and representative of the Severin Wunderman Collection (the largest collection of French avant-garde icon Jean Cocteau artworks in the world), Cassens’ ongoing work continues to carry both her grandfather’s and Cocteau’s legacies forward in innovative programming around the globe. Expanding from what she started in Volume 1, Cassens’ latest zine release features more essays about Jean Cocteau, Daft Punk, dance floor eroticism, sex works, what she lost (and gained) in the Palisades fire, and more. 

“Sacred Monster Vol 1 and its warm reception – it sold out through a select few independent bookshops, word of mouth and very limited online quantities – was proof to me that there is a hunger for physical media, a taste for reading (despite what they say!) and a continued curiosity about Cocteau. I am excited to bring more re-worked Sacred Monster essays to print with Vol 2, which is also a manifestation of my punk ethos: why wait around for a big publisher to ‘pick me’ when I can do it myself? (For what it’s worth, I have never used any AI product and don’t intend on starting, as perhaps evidenced by the typo in Vol 1 that one rather attentive ex-boyfriend of mine felt the need to point out.)” 

Volume 2 is an extension of SACRED MONSTER, a cultural project that reintroduces Cocteau—and the broader avant-garde circles he moved in and whose influences are still seen today—to a new generation through essays, public programming, and collaborations with institutions and film festivals. The term SACRED MONSTER, coined by Cocteau, refers to “a celebrity whose eccentricities or indiscretions are easily forgiven by admirers.” SACRED MONSTER seeks to answer the question that has preoccupied much of Cassen’s life: Why Jean Cocteau, and why was her grandfather such an avid collector of his work? 

Cassens’ unconventional path brings exciting relevance into her scholarship. She produced the popular podcast The Sex Ed with Liz Goldwyn and has spoken at institutions including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice about Cocteau’s more explicit works and their cultural context. Cassens has been featured in several recent publications, including a major feature in The New York Times, which dubbed her the “Little Scorpion” of the French Riviera for her role in stewarding the Wunderman legacy while pushing Cocteau’s work into new conversations around art, sexuality, and contemporary culture. 

DETAILS

SACRED MONSTER Volume 2 Release Party

Saturday, June 6th
18:00 – 21:00

Librairie 1909
3 Passage Guilhem
Paris 75011

ABOUT CHLOË CASSENS

Chloë Cassens is the representative of the Severin Wunderman collection, the largest in the world of works by the artist Jean Cocteau. Her perspective on Cocteau is singular as she is Wunderman’s granddaughter. An in-demand expert and scholar of Cocteau, she has spoken to audiences at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice; L’Alliance in New York City; the British Film Institute in London; the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles; and many more. Chloë has been featured in Le Monde, Tatler, Observer, and the New York Times has called her “The Little Scorpion of the French Riviera.” Her writing has appeared in periodicals such as A Rabbit’s Foot, 7Hollywood, and S&M Magazine. 

Chloë was born in Los Angeles and raised between L.A., Switzerland, and France. She received a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Barnard College. She lives in Los Angeles and Paris with her dachshund, Louis. 

You can follow her at @chloecassens on Instagram. You can subscribe to Sacred Monster at www.sacred-monster.com.

Sacred Monster, Vol I is available to purchase at https://www.chloecassens.com/; Skylight Books in Los Angeles; and Librairie 1909 in Paris. 

Instagram: @chloecassens
Website: chloecassens.com
Sacred Monster website: https://www.sacred-monster.com/