At Paris couture, high jewellery was the crowning glory of the collections
Following Paris Couture Fashion Week, Rachel Garrahan unpacks the haute joaillerie highlights.
Color and volume abounded in the high jewelry collections presented this week during Paris couture, with the maisons experimenting more than ever before with unexpected gems and materials to secure the fleeting attention of discerning gem obsessives and collectors. It is just as well the brands make their mark in the category. Jewelry sales continue to lead luxury growth, hitting $36.7bn last year according to Bain & Co, and they are forecast to continue to outpace the rest of fashion over the the next three years.
At Dior, Victoire de Castellane presented Diorissima, a collection overflowing with joy and vibrancy in bib-style necklaces, belts, brooches and hair jewels, all layered with sun-soaked, flower-filled, fairytale landscapes. The maison’s ability to combine couture metiers d’arts onto the tiny canvas of a watch pulsated too in piece after piece, from de Castellane’s beloved opal dials, their kaleidoscope of hues mirrored in equally vibrant gem-set bracelets, to the Grand Bal Nuit des Indes pieces that paid homage to Christan Dior’s fascination with India, exotic motifs layered onto the dials in minute, precious embroidery.
As temperatures soared in the streets around the place Vendôme, Van Cleef and Arpels transported us to the banks of the Nile with its Fascinating Egypt collection. It was a tour de force of the maison’s singular combination of elegant design, exceptional gemstones, storied heritage, not to mention jewelry craftsmanship at the highest level. Mystery-set rubies and sapphires danced among jewels nodding to Van Cleef’s Egyptomania-themed masterpieces of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as abstract compositions that harmoniously combined faceted white diamonds with the color jolt of carved turquoise, lapis lazuli and coral.
VAN CLEEF AND ARPELS BRACELET IN BLACK SPINELS, SAPPHIRES AND GOLD
Ornamental stones were a recurring theme across Paris. At Chanel, the graphic quality of its Signes & Symboles collection that depicted Coco’s beloved motifs – the star, sun, camellia and lion – was given added impact and dimensionality through layers of turquoise and carnelian, not to mention juicy yellow beryls and purple-blue tanzanite beads.
At Hermès’ dreamy Shona Heath-designed presentation at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Pierre Hardy revealed his biennial high jewelry collection around the theme of the horse, using peach moonstone and tiger’s eye to bring warmth and emotion. Elsewhere, he stuck to the hard sensuality of diamonds, fashioning a chest-covering bib that pitted the sharp points and soft curves of pear-shaped diamonds against tapering horseshoe nails bedecked in pavé.
LEFT IMAGE: HERMÈS NECKLACE IN WHITE DIAMONDS AND WHITE GOLD. PHOTOGRAPHY JULIEN MARTINEZ LECLERC RIGHT IMAGE: BOUCHERON NECKLACE IN DIAMONDS, ROCK CRYSTAL AND WHITE GOLD
At Nikos Koulis’ elegant new boutique just across from Hermès flagship, the Greek jeweler revealed his latest obsession: tortoiseshell acetate. Inspired by the material in his sunglasses, he audaciously engineered the material to provide a glowing, softly curving, voluminous counterpoint to icy lines of baguette-cut diamonds. At Pomellato meanwhile, high-polish gold provided anther point of contrast. Large emerald-cut diamonds nestled inside a curved collar of brushed gold, their cocoons given a mirror polish finish that provided their facets with a trompe L’oeil effect and a seductive play of light.
LEFT IMAGE: NIKOS KOULIS NECKLACE IN DIAMONDS, TORTOISESHELL ACETATE AND YELLOW GOLD RIGHT IMAGE: POMELLATO NECKLACE IN DIAMONDS AND ROSE GOLD
As ever, in Boucheron’s Human Being collection, creative director Claire Choisne thought big. Although totalling just ten necklaces and rings, each one’s super-sized dimensions matched the size of her conceptual ambition. Pondering our paranoia regarding artificial intelligence and its potential to radically alter our lives, she reassures us with the unassailable fact that every human is unique, and that no level of AI can destroy their individual character and skill.
Each necklace at first glance looked similar with the same cluster design repeated each time, but get up close, and each was made with different materials, from transparent rock crystal to brilliant peachy-hued morganite. Hundreds, even thousands of hours, were then spent by highly skilled artists in decorating each component in a dazzling display of craftsmanship and human ingenuity, from tattoo-like glyptic engravings of flora and fauna to tiny miniature hand-painted flowers. They served as a reminder that no level of technical wizardry will ever be able to match the imagination and ingenuity of the human heart and hand.
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