FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2026

Sacred Monster founder Chloë Cassens returns to New Orleans
with special events, speaking engagements and film screenings this fall

Chloë Cassens. Photo: @studiolazareff

New Orleans, LA – Chloë Cassens returns to New Orleans with special programming during the fall, including the Nous Foundation Halloween Ball, a talk with Paris-based literary journal Souvenir Magazine, and a lecture at Tulane University. 

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. This fall marks Cassens’ second appearance in New Orleans this year since headlining special programming during the French Film Festival in March. 

“I have always had a special relationship to New Orleans, and being welcomed in March only deepened it. While many others may see my reputation as an enfant terrible as a detriment, and have shied away, the people and city of La Nouvelle Orléans has embraced it – and me – with a warmth I cannot help but send back to them. (They’re also, true to the legend, incredibly fun.)” – Chloë Cassens

Cassens is the founder 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. Cassens’ ongoing work and role stewarding both Wunderman and Cocteau’s legacies have led her to collaborate with institutions like the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the World Woman Foundation in Cannes, the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, the French Film Festival in New Orleans, and elsewhere. She 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. 

On October 30th, Cassens will host a Halloween Ball with the Nous Foundation at a secret location in the Vieux Carré. The event will feature a champagne reception and a Surrealist-theme party featuring a DJ mixing music with curated footage from Cocteau’s work. Guests are encouraged to dress in costumes embracing the avant-garde spirit of both Cocteau and the French Quarter, and there will be an award ceremony to recognize the best costumes of the evening. Nous—The New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures—is a nonprofit supporting the revitalization of Louisiana’s heritage cultures, focusing on Cadien (Cajun), Creole, and Indigenous communities.

On November 3rd, Cassens will participate in a talk at Common House with Augusta Sagnelli, the Founder of Souvenir Magazine, a literary journal based in Paris. 

On November 4th, Cassens will give a lecture about Cocteau and the 80 year-long legacy of his film La Belle et la Bête (1946) at Tulane University, which will be open to the entire school and community at large. 

DETAILS

Nous Foundation Halloween Ball
Friday, October 30th
9:00 pm – late

Secret location
Vieux Carré

Souvenir Magazine Talk 
Tuesday, November 3rd
5:30 pm

Common House

Tulane University Talk & Film Screening
Wednesday, November 4th
5:30 pm

Tulane University

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.