Sparkling month – Style

Presentations of high jewelry collections of the largest European houses this year did not take place as usual – during the Paris Fashion Week, but during specially organized events. Throughout the month, the jewelery houses presented their most expensive pieces at runway shows followed by gala dinners for selected clients. “Kommersant Style” has put together a kind of calendar of high jewelery presentations.

Dior June 3

While working on the Les Jardins de la Couture collection, Victoire de Castellane, creative director of Dior Joaillerie, imagined the meeting of two of Christian Dior’s most beloved worlds – gardens and haute couture. The presentation took place in the garden of Villa Erba in Cernobbio on Lake Como. For the show, 41 dresses in neutral shades, embroidered with sequins, were specially created. Victoire de Castellane considers this presentation format to be ideal, because, having seen the jewelry on the model, it is easier to imagine it on yourself.

The collection has four “chapters”: Galons Fleuris sparkles with floral motifs; Tres Cher Dior echoes the 2013 Cher Dior collection, where color and volume were the protagonists; in Buissons Couture, precious stones form flowers that create either symmetrical or chaotic compositions; Mini Milly is dedicated to a fictional garden. There are 170 items in total, including three clocks with a secret. Among the most important gemstones are a 12.08 carat diamond, a 16.91 carat Colombian emerald, a 12.14 carat ruby ​​from Mozambique and a 13.25 carat sapphire from Madagascar.

Tiffany & Co. June 5

The house’s new creative director of jewelry, Natalie Verdey, dedicated her first Blue Book 2023: Out of the Blue collection to the work of Jean Schlumberger and his passion for marine life. The collection will be presented in two stages during the year. The themes of the summer series are shell, coral, jellyfish, fish, starfish and sea urchin. With a detachable shell-shaped pendant that can be worn as a brooch, this transformable necklace explores the three-dimensionality of objects created by the ocean, revealing a black opal weighing over 21 carats through an outer outline of white gold and diamonds.

The recognizable scenes of Jean Schlumberger – jellyfish, fish and sea urchin – in the new collection were inlaid with padparadscha sapphires, tanzanites and chalcedony, and the “Starfish” seemed to be entangled among underwater rocks made of opals, aquamarines, tourmalines and beryl with diamond inserts. Diamonds in the necklace intertwine with rows of pearls, as if in a real marine ecosystem, while rare padparadscha sapphires, umba sapphires, mother-of-pearl and carnelian add color to the starfish theme. Summer Series Blue Book 2023: Out of the Blue debuted at The Landmark, Tiffany & Co.’s flagship store reopened after renovation. on Fifth Avenue in New York.

Chanel, June 7

The Parisian house showed the Tweed de Chanel collection in London, the capital of the country, the birthplace of tweed. The merit of the “great mademoiselle” lies in the fact that she turned a coarse woolen fabric into a symbol of luxury, so tweed naturally became the main character of the collection, designed by the creative director of the Chanel jewelry studio Patrice Legero.

This is the second collection dedicated to the iconic fabric of Chanel, after Tweed Couture 2020, but this year Legero added other important codes of the house to the main plot. The Tweed Ruban series is dedicated to the white ribbon, Tweed Etoile to the comet in the dark blue sky, Tweed Camelia to the pink camellia, Tweed Soleil to the sun, Tweed Lion to the lion, whose vitality and royal stature echo red. The headpiece of the collection of 63 pieces is the Tweed Royal necklace set with diamonds and 37 rubies in yellow gold, designed to imitate intertwined fabric fibers. The central lion motif can be detached and worn as a brooch, while the 10.17-carat pear-shaped diamond suspended at the end of the necklace can be set into a ring. A large gold chain is attached to the upper edge of the necklace, reminiscent of the chains sewn into the hem of Chanel dresses so that their tails fall beautifully. Each series features a Tweed Icone ring with a central stone in the color of the theme of the series – ruby, sapphire, colorless or yellow diamond.

Gucci June 7th

Gucci’s high jewelery collection is dedicated to the changing seasons, called Allegoria, and opens a new chapter after the first three Hortus Deliciarum collections conceived by creative director Alessandro Michele, who left the company last year. The presentation of Allegoria took place in the historical archive of the house in the Palazzo Settimanni in Florence. Here, in 1921, Guccio Gucci began making leather goods by hand.

There are more than 200 decorations in Allegoria, and color can be considered its main character. The mood of spring is conveyed by Gucci’s signature Flora motif. Green tourmaline with a solid weight of 226 carats is located in a necklace with stars and baguette diamonds. In another necklace, a 161-cart cushion-cut pink tourmaline was surrounded by diamonds and colored enamel. The colors of summer are conveyed by emeralds, spinels, Paraiba tourmalines and diamonds. Yellow sapphires, pink tourmalines and tangerine garnets are responsible for the autumn series. A 78 carat yellow sapphire in a necklace is surrounded by tourmalines and diamonds, while five mandarin garnets in three different shapes sparkle in a yellow gold bracelet. Winter is represented by a combination of enamel and diamonds, as well as a 92 carat opal. Some of the jewels in the collection are set with antique European-cut diamonds, created in the years 1830-1930. There are also transforming jewelry, and even new hair ornaments.

Louis Vuitton, June 13

In the fifth jewelry collection for the house of Louis Vuitton, creative director Francesca Amfiteatrof explored the theme of the tectonic shifts of the planet. The collection of 95 jewels grouped into 13 themes is called Deep Time. At the presentation, held at the Amanzoe resort in Greece, guests could enjoy a performance in the ancient Odeon theater of Herodes Atticus, built in 161 AD. e. at the foot of the Athenian Acropolis.

Tectonic shifts caused the appearance of precious stones, in addition, they explain the similarity of rubies from Burma and Africa. The collection begins with the Gondwana kit, named after the pro-continent that united modern South America, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. Then comes the Volcano necklace with cushion-cut mandarin garnets and tourmalines, reminiscent of hot lava splashes. The Rupture transformable jewelry set is dedicated to geological shifts, while Myriad, which has two helixes in its design, evokes the structure of the DNA ribbon. The Seeds and Flowers sets complete the collection with the arrival of life and bloom. Despite the strong design of jewelry, stones became the main characters of the collection. A 40.8 carat sapphire from Sri Lanka adorned the Wave necklace with a high collar, shaped like the huge waves that cooled the planet after the landscape was finally formed. In the Plants necklace, 17 rubies and emeralds sit next to a 16 carat LV Monogram cut diamond.

Van Cleef & Arpels, 21 June

The Parisian jewelry house presented the Grand Tour collection in Rome. In the 18th-19th centuries, the “Great Journey” was the name given to trips made by European aristocrats and representatives of wealthy bourgeois families to get acquainted with the culture of other countries. The presentation of the collection took place at the Villa Medici, in the Academy of France, which was once the center of European “grand tours”. Guests of the event could see and try on 70 masterpieces of high jewelry inspired by jewelry from different eras – ancient Roman, Etruscan, medieval, Renaissance, but made in the style characteristic of Van Cleef & Arpels. Four bracelets reproduce views of Venice, Rome, Florence and Naples in a technique close to micromosaic.

The three-dimensional sculptural brooches are adorned with vintage cameos, and the earrings sparkle with baroque candelabra. The Piazza Divina necklace is inspired by the architecture of St. Peter’s Basilica. It is formed by white gold rings set with diamonds, emeralds and sapphires, with 14 rose gold pendants set with pear-shaped diamonds and emeralds, and in the center sparkles a 13.09 carat Ethiopian emerald. The Dea Eterna brooch is dedicated to the statue by Antonio Canova in one of the most magnificent English treasure houses, Chatsworth House. The figurine of the goddess Hebe stands on an uncut piece of lapis lazuli in an arch made from superimposed strips of polished or textured gold, set with marquise-cut diamonds. Naples inspired the Ninfe necklace, which echoes the silhouette of the floral tiaras seen on the mosaics of the ruined Nymphaeum in Herculaneum, a monument dedicated to the nymphs. Rose and white gold leaves set with diamonds, corals, spessartines, rubies and pink sapphires surround three large central rubellites.

Piaget June 23

The first major event after the pandemic, the Swiss jewelry and watch house also decided to hold in Italy, in Florence. The 14th-century villa Il Salviatino in Fiesole was chosen as the location. The Metaphoria collection is dedicated to the metamorphoses of nature and consists of 41 pieces and 11 watches divided into two parts, Azureia and Beautanica. Stephanie Sivrier, creative director of the brand, tries to stay away from figurativeness and turns to emblematic natural elements such as a waterfall or sunbeams for inspiration.

The Mineralis set is reminiscent of the waters of a mountain river: its asymmetrical necklace sparkles with diamonds, sapphires, aquamarines and rock crystal with a central aquamarine weighing 13.25 ct cushion-cut, and one of the rings is set with a Sri Lankan sapphire weighing 4.1 ct. The Foliatura set features a Palace Decor engraved white gold watch with a 6.59 ct Colombian emerald and leaf-shaped chrysoprase. In the Alata necklace, earrings and watch, leaf-shaped elements are made of gold, mother-of-pearl and diamonds. The Aqua Summa set includes aquamarines, the largest of which weighs 4 carats, and diamonds side by side with Akoya pearls.

Ekaterina Ziborova