Seven Extraordinary Pieces Of High Jewelry At Couture Week In Paris

Place Vendôme sparkled under the summer sun during Couture Week, as journalists toured the Paris jewelry houses to take in their latest offerings. From animal magic, to supernatural pearls, there were some magnificent jewels on display. These are the five that caught my eye.

The Iceberg necklace at Boucheron

Boucheron’s Carte Blanche collection, presented in early summer each year, is a chance for the Maison’s creative director Claire Choisne and her team to let loose, with truly innovative high jewelry collections. This year, she created a highly coherent collection inspired by the waters of Iceland, reinterpreting the body as a landscape for opaque icebergs, rushing torrents and powerful cascades using diamonds, white gold, quartz, obsidian, and compacted black sand. The Ondes necklace features diamonds set into slivers of quartz to recreate the pattern a diamond makes when dropped into water. The resulting collar is a magnificent and joyful ode to nature.

The Tulip Brooch at Anna Hu

There were tributes to Nature in another form at Anna Hu, whose tight high jewelry collection of 10 pieces was shown in opulent salons over looking Place Vendôme. Amongst hand-painted titanium orchids that looked as if they should be soft to the touch, and gem-encrusted peonies, was a magnificent tulip brooch made from an enormous, tubular pearl believed to be from a giant clam, and another for the tulip bud. The pearls were left in their natural shape, which was accentuated with gemstones in an extraordinary tour de force, full of movement and grace.

The Giraffe Cuff at De Beers

Including some spectacular transformable pieces, fancy colored diamonds and high-level jewelry engineering, De Beer’s biggest collection yet took us from the jungle to the African savannah, in an ode to the land that produces the company’s diamonds. Each series represented an animal native to the continent, and the Giraffe collection, symbolizing dignity, stood out for the mesmerizing tonal color palette of rough diamonds shining out from brilliant white stones, that recalled the animal’s pelt. This statement cuff is ingeniously engineered with a spring system instead of a closure.

The Emerald cuff at Graff

Graff’s latest high jewelry offerings came to life on the models stationed around the brand’s rue St Honoré flagship. Amongst the diamond sparkle, this cuff stood out for its 6.02ct Colombian emerald. The kite-cut stone appears to float above a line of baguette metals set into mixed-cut white diamonds, to dazzling effect.

The Ritz necklace at Tasaki

Tasaki traditionally shows at the Ritz and this season, the house paid tribute to the Paris hotel with a collection that channels all the glamour of the legendary landmark’s heyday. Amongst diamond and pearl pieces inspired by the parties, the gossip at the foot of its famous staircase and the joie de vivre of the inter-war years, this pearl neckpiece was a dramatic nod to the decadence of those opulent suites.

The Conch Bow necklace at Mikimoto

Across the square, Mikimoto took over a suite of salons overlooking the Vendôme column, with a collection reinterpreting the bow and paying tribute to archive pieces at the 136 year-old Japanese pearl house. This spectacular collar sees soft, creamy pearls worked into undulating lace, threaded with a diamond string that looks like it has been hand-tied into a delicate bow. The piece is finished with a rare pink conch pearl, which can be removed and worn as a brooch, underlining the move towards transformable jewelry.

The Score Necklace by Chaumet

Chaumet’s Mise en Scène collection was a célébration of the stage. Collections exploring music, dance and magic featured jewels channeling the tension and drama of the tango, grace and elegance of ballet, and surprise and sleight of hand of the illusionist’s art. The Score necklace is a bejewelled rendering of a musical score that is every bit as precise and elegant as the melody itself.