January’s Fashion Week once again showcased Haute Joaillerie under the banner of excellence, creativity, and heritage, highlighting the delicacy of design and the rare beauty of the finest gems. From Paris and New York to China and the deserts of Arabia, the inspirations captured our imagination.
As usual, Dior opened the show. Remaining in the wake of Christian Dior’s passions, couture (lace, braids, fringes) and gardens, the House brought together 57 pieces in which meticulously matched stones composed a mini flora that was abundant, light, and bursting with color. The Soleil Céleste set sparkles with light, its golden rays dotted with small cosmic symbols (Christian Dior was superstitious). At the center, a 5-carat yellow diamond drop enhances the necklace with its solar brilliance.
Legacies and rebirths
Dior’s luxuriance contrasts with Cartier’s style, which always brings us back, in a roundabout way, to the purity of its Art Deco heritage. “Never add, always remove,” said Coco Chanel.
Cartier seems to have taken her advice, as evidenced by Jacqueline Karachi, Creative Director of Fine Jewelry for the Parisian fashion house. “Creating the obviousness of the line through its simplicity is the paradox of sophisticated simplicity,” she said. “It is the art of seeing differently, but also of balancing with precision. It is the art of balance, at the heart of our creative approach, which reveals the harmony of Cartier.”
A perfect balance of volumes, shapes studied to be as understated as possible to highlight the design, the beauty of the stones and the meticulous cutting of the diamonds – brilliant, diamond, kite, taper, “modified” (elongated) rectangular – is remarkable on the Parcae and Splendea necklaces. Further on, reflecting the jeweler’s rich universe, the Andora necklace, set with chrysoprase cabochons and red spinel pendants, suggests the undulation of a jellyfish. Elsewhere, a panther protects the lock of a cigar box with its paw.
An encounter with grace at Chaumet, which exhibited a small collection of nine pieces adorned with wings and crafted in shades of blue (Madagascar sapphires and grand feu enamel). They recall the heritage of its winged tiaras from the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular the 1910 set belonging to Gertrude Vanderbilt. The most astonishing piece, an aigrette tiara that took more than 850 hours to make, transforms into a Venetian mask or, shedding its wings, into a tiara set with a deep midnight blue sapphire.
Boucheron delves into history and pays tribute to moments in the life of its founder that have become its signature: Place Vendôme, where he was the first jeweler to set up shop; the Point d’Interrogation necklace, which won an award at the 1889 World’s Fair; and couture (long diamond festoon epaulettes transform into a long necklace, short necklace, or brooches), recalling that Frédéric Boucheron’s father was a draper. The monochrome collection is incredibly elegant. The Untamed necklace alone required 2,600 hours of work due to the complexity of the setting, articulation, and transformability (the leaves detach to become brooches).
Stunning stones awaited us at British jeweler Graff, a company renowned for discovering and cutting some of the world’s most important rough diamonds. On a flamboyant choker, drops of diamonds and sapphires skim the still waters of 200 carats of diamonds, set in a raised setting, surrounding a velvety blue Burmese sapphire weighing 31 carats.
Among London jewelers, David Morris explored color in all its power, from the dazzling fire of a Padparadscha sapphire to the House’s iconic pink diamonds. Two cocktail rings enchant the collection with their charm: Queen of the Sea celebrates a 41-carat natural pearl, almost perfectly round, whose orient with green, pink, and orange reflections inspired the choice of colored diamonds that accompany it, while Radiant Lotus, set with a natural and ultra-pure Padparadscha sapphire of over 23 carats, evokes the delicate hue of the flower that blooms each morning.
Distant horizons
Deers London took advantage of Winter Fashion Week to open its Paris flagship store on Rue de la Paix. The incandescent light of southern Africa seems to filter in from outside, and a wall of kimberlite, the rock from which diamonds are formed, runs through the floors. At the heart of the new Haute Joaillerie collection, the Echo tiara necklace spreads its sparkling waves across an imaginary river from the center stone, a rare 1.12-carat Fancy Intense Blue Namibian diamond.
In the East, Chinese jeweler Anna Hu took us to the imperial gardens of the Forbidden City. Alongside traditional titanium orchids meticulously hand-painted, rings and earrings poetically depict the light filtering through the wooden lattice windows overlooking the gardens. A semi-eclectic mix of fine pearls, in a variety of colors and sizes, reflects the shadows and light that change throughout the day.
In the Middle East, the raw beauty of the Al Khali Ruby and the mineral reliefs of the mountains of Saudi Arabia inspired Cris Porto, a Brazilian artist and designer. The Alula necklace is unique, capturing the contours of wind-shaped rocky ridges. “This set was inspired by the view of the desert in Saudi Arabia. We wanted to capture a rare emotion, the one you feel when faced with immensity and majestic solitude,” said Cris Porto, jeweler and founder of the eponymous Maison. 645 diamonds (over 30 carats) cascade around these desert peaks, forming a negative relief. A beautiful 6-carat cushion-cut emerald punctuates this original and highly creative necklace.
Rarely seen in Paris, a few pieces of jewelry from Tiffany & Co’s prestigious Blue Book of Fine Jewelry highlighted the signature style of Jean Schlumberger, the House’s designer during the 1960s and 1970s: the beauty of colored stones, the refined workmanship of gold, never overshadowed by the gems, dreamlike naturalism, movement, and airy volumes. On the Arrow ring and bracelet, a radiant beam of gold and diamond arrows converges towards the sun, a cushion-cut diamond, which itself reflects its own arrows of light.
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Featured photo: Radiant Lotus ring in rose gold, 1 Padparadscha sapphire weighing 23.41 carats, white diamonds, and pink diamonds