The Place Vendôme’s crème de la crème—as well as noteworthy indies—usually unveil their major haute joaillerie creations during the July collectsions. Even so, this week was studded with small-scale presentations that let a handful of houses strut their signatures. Here, some of the most covetable pieces.
Photo: Courtesy of Chanel1/6Chanel
With a shower of diamonds as well as sapphires, pearls, and crystal, Chanel transposed the signature quilting recently seen in gold on Coco Crush into 48 pieces of high jewelry. Some pieces, like the Signature Ultime sapphire and diamond bracelet, had the remarkable fluidity of fabric. The most compelling piece was also the subtlest. The Signature de Nacre cuff may boast 20 carats of diamonds, but hand-sculpting fragile Tahitian mother-of-pearl and setting it like marquetry is the real feat: It takes up to four months to complete a single cuff.
Photo: Courtesy of Boucheron2/6Boucheron
Boucheron’s bestiary has been the stuff of legend for 158 years. This season, designer Claire Choisne unveiled bigger versions of many favorites, notably turning her black-and-white diamond Cypris swans and the Hans hedgehog into showstopping cuffs with ruby eyes. “The swan is feminine and strong, so I wanted to explore volume and the possibility of wearing them together, head to tail,” Choisne offered. New additions to the menagerie include eagles, peacocks, multicolored cockatoos, a penguin, Pegasus, a panda, a polar bear striding across an ice floe in rock crystal, and—of course—a new iteration of the house’s famed serpent, appropriately named Kaa.
Photo: Courtesy of De Beers3/6De Beers
In addition to A-listers like Adele and Kate Winslet, a number of avant-garde artists, among them Clean Bandit’s Grace Chatto, have been cropping up in De Beers pieces lately, stringing slim sautoirs in their hair or wearing the diamonds in back. A likely contender for Oscar night, the Mosaic necklace is a supple piece made of 2,500 diamonds individually set in a mount so discreet that the stones seem to simply float.
Photo: Courtesy of Christian Dior4/6Dior
Young Christian Dior loved gardening with his mother at his childhood home in Granville, Normandy. With the Granville collectsion, Victoire de Castellane revisits a garden through childlike eyes, offering up freestyle flowers in 12 chromatic and deconstructed compositions. “Color is the story,” the designer notes. “Each piece takes on a life of its own.”
Photo: Courtesy of Elie Top5/6Elie Top
Elie Top’s been obsessed with cathedrals, ancient maps, and functional symbols like wind roses, sundials, and compasses since he was 6. These days, he’s also hooked on Game of Thrones, hence what he calls the “medieval futurism” of the 15-piece Etoile Mystérieuse collectsion. Here, an exclusive look at the massive silver pendant set with a rotating labradorite cabochon—a stone traditionally prized for its ability to protect, heal, and dispel negative vibes.
Photo: Courtesy of Sabine Getty6/6Sabine Getty
With a collectsion based entirely on topaz, London-based designer Sabine Getty took a stroll through the Memphis art movement. “It was such a colorful, crazy time, with so much going on—it took me awhile to whittle it all down,” she said. And whittle she did, until she came to the spare waves and zigzags ranging from stackable rings to statement chokers like these.
