This issue’s ICON’s are an edit of the finest jewelry brands’ latest creations. Each inspired by vital life, we present the newest piece in Bulgari’s marquee Serpenti collection; earrings inspired by exotic orchids dripping in sapphires, garnets, and opals; a cosmic collection with fiery hues inspired by the sun and the stars; and a dazzling ode to the most romantic city in the world.
PURPLE POISON BULGARI
It is said that Cleopatra, the most legendary queen of all time, entered Rome wearing a snake-design bracelet around her wrist. When Elizabeth Taylor played the iconic monarch in the 1963 movie Cleopatra, she was also sporting the limbless animal on her wrist, but this time, a Bulgari Serpenti bracelet. Now icon of the Italian jeweler, the Serpenti collection and its snake-like watches are turning purple. Debuted this summer, the Serpenti Amethyst capsule collection reinvents three of the brand’s signature watches with a vibrant violet skin.
With the amethyst gemstone on focus, the 2016 Serpenti Incatati, the Serpenti Scaglie and the Serpenti Misteriosi Bangle (the secret watch hidden under the revered animal’s gilded head), are all set in rose gold and encrusted with contrasting diamonds and mother of pearls dials, highlighting the star purple stone. Interpretation of vibrant femininity, the three timepieces design are enlivened by the delicate new addition of the iconic hue. With the enigmatic stone meaning power in Ancient Egypt, Greek and Roman cultures, Bulgari’s snake mascot is turning into an ultra-violet, powerfully poetic and highly luxurious piece of high jewelry.
ORCHID YOU NOT CHOPARD
Every year in May, the South of France play host to one of the most dazzling red carpets, the Cannes Film Festival, celebrating the film industry’s most acclaimed (and recognizable) faces. For Swiss jeweler Chopard, official partner of the festival since 1998, the event means the debut of their most important collection, the Caroline Scheufele-designed Red Carpet Collection, a line of now 70 or so pieces, re-imagined each year, and updated with one extra creation to match the ceremony’s edition number. Demonstrating the masterful expertise of Chopard’s ateliers and craftspeople, the 2019 collection unveiled its most mesmerizing pieces:
a pair of orchid earrings, shaped to perfection as if plucked straight from Eden’s enchanting garden. The first of the two floral creations feature pink sapphire petals, while the second bloom with purple petals is made from plum titanium and set with yellow sapphires and garnets. Both pieces sport 4,800 green tsavorites and white opals, reflecting the House’s stellar savoir-faire – two sensational pieces just longing to be worn and admired.
CELESTIAL GEMS CHAUMET
Since 1780, French jeweler and watchmaker Chaumet, once the personal jeweler of Empress Josephine, has considered the arts as its first and essential source of inspiration. Like an artist picking a theme for his work, it’s the sky and its enigmatic allure that the House chose to highlight in Les Ciel de Chaumet collection, a high jewelry line unveiled during Paris Couture week and narrated in a four-part story. The series opens with Les Fulgurances du Ciel, jewels painting a cosmic sky at night with showers of diamond stars, black opals and delicate dark-hued stones. In Les Couleurs du Ciel, the second series of the collection, the fiery colors of the sun and its poetic moods are interpreted the sun and its
poetic moods are interpreted with luminous hues reflecting the movements of the stellar fire ball while Les Caprices du Ciel, the third act, paints romantic, stormy weather, with golden clouds and topaz wind creating a harmonious dialogue. The final act, Les Habitants du Ciel, is a celestial bestiary where dancing birds fly graciously away to welcoming lands. In each series, rings, earrings, brooches, necklaces, bracelets and majestic tiaras enliven the pictorial composition, adding gravitas to the House’s monumental collection. A dazzling invitation to keep your head in the clouds and reach for the stars.
A FASHIONABLE ADDRESS BOUCHERON
The Place Vendome in Paris is the golden heart of France’s most eminent jewelers, with numerous luxury jewelry houses assembling their offices and stores somewhere around the rectangle-shaped quarter. The very first to ever settle there was Francois Boucheron in 1858, presenting his audaciously elegant creations to the 19th century aristocrats attending his salon. Today, the jewelry House pays homage to the legendary headquarters with a tribute collection to the French Capital, its architecture and iconic landscape. Now immortalized in three series of majestic jewels: one on Paris, the second on the Place Vendome, and the third, the 26V, inspired by the brand’s head office at 26, Place Vendome.
Eventually muse to the jeweler, the city of lights’ most striking landmarks are transformed and re-imagined into pendants, necklaces, rings and earrings adorned with diamonds, emeralds and delicate gemstones. After two years of research, the jeweler is also debuting the first House stone, part of the 26V series: a three-dimensional piece combining onyx, rock crystal and white Agathe, set on a ring and detachable to be worn around the neck. Brilliant, ostensibly Parisian and instantly appealing.
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