In the era of global lockdown, when future might appear to you as a short distance run and vanity a useless question, only true value keeps the cadence. We often associated fashion with consumption and permanent renewal but there is a better, sustainable side of it. The real luxury, if I may use this expression at all, finds itself in a timeless place. Craftsmanship and precious materials remain, since time's dawn, the genuine experience. High Jewellery is the sumptuous niche where art meets knowhow and rarity, where stones find their way into the hands of masters to become story telling treasures to wear.
This July 2020 Van Cleef & Arpels revealed Hommage à la Haute Joaillerie Place Vendôme. The collection is underlining their passion for exceptional gems celebrating the emerald, the ruby and the diamond. Three exceptional pieces are paying tribute to legendary jewellery belonging to a certain highly important clientele. There was a time where actresses would order their dreams, wear the pieces on the red carpet and perfect their roles with the precious personal pieces. One iconic example is the fetish jarretière bracelet owned and worn by Marlene Dietrich in Stage Fright by Alfred Hitchcock.
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Today, the jewellery house has reinterpreted it and brought to life a wristlet ornate by 72 cushion birman rubis adding up to 84,74 carats. Rich and vibrating, from true red to purple, the rare gems are paving two unequal demi-cercles. The whole is a sculptural piece, structured in a pure Van Cleef & Arples signature. We cannot distinguish the architectural from the nature inspiration, so emblematic of the house since its foundation in 1906. Round, square and cushion diamonds adorn the white gold framework and bring radiance to this technical masterpiece.
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| ph: MASSTASSINI STUDIO |
The collection presents a second bracelet. Entirely articulated, the bold shape is embellished with a burst of diamonds. The house, renown for its poetical inspiration and its capacity of constructing fabulous stories in one jewellery piece, is offering here simplicity. A complex structure enlightening singularity.
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Another archetypal elegance inspired a pair of diamond earrings of exceptional beauty. Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis received in 1968, as marriage present, a pair of bloomed flowers withholding two generous cabochon rubis.
Entitled Tendresse, the new created pieces, present two pear flawless diamonds of more than 10 carats each of rare spark and harmony. What is even more notable is their appartenance of the same rough. Faithful to their universe, the Van Cleef & Arpels masters crafted a life-full flower shape to hold the precious stones.
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The house is also presenting three sautoirs of remarkable elegance. Vibrant colours and modifiable, the long-necklaces are timepieces in disguise. Pearls, onyx beads and lapis-lazuli or malachite enhanced by diamonds and citrines or sapphires bring back that nonchalant elegance from the thirties.
Modulability, Van Cleef & Arpels often excelled with ingenious concepts. You can separate parts of the jewell, interchange, wear it more or less flamboyant, make it a bracelet watch, a short or a long necklace. Only your frame of mind will be the limit.
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The main piece for this 2021 collection, bringing together all the beauty, the technical mastering and the unique gems passion of Van Cleef and Arpels, is inspired by the 1929 collerette that later became a crown jewel of Her Royal Highness, Princess Faiza of Egypt.
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Today, mostly appanage of royalty and highly educated fortunes, the fine jewellery is a journey in itself. The emblematic house is inviting you to discover the Van Cleef & Arpels Collection in "Precious Stones". Extraordinary historical and modern pieces will be revealed in a state of art exhibition held at the National Museum of Natural History, in Paris, this coming September.
Alexandra Mas
visual artist & art director
@alexandramas_artist
