High Jewelry: a very high-quality mezzo voce

January’s Fashion Week, unlike the spectacular collections of July, is rather mezzo voce. However, the collections presented were as impressive as they were inspired. Necklaces, bracelets and transformable rings, revisited pocket watches or brooches to pin in the hair, vintage, sixties or Art Deco inspirations, the jewels paraded in the light.

In this first part, let’s observe nature in all its forms. While it has always inspired jewelers, very present in heritage pieces, history and narrative, this time it was presented in a new light, wild, untamed or, on the contrary, in a sensual softness and very couture.

At Dior, visitors were invited to pass under an arbor of dried roses, intoxicated by their scent, to discover the jewels. And what a dazzling sight! Victoire de Castelane continues to enrich the jewelry lexicon of the House with the Dior Milly Dentelle collection, an allusion to Milly-la-Forêt, where Christian Dior owned an estate. The collection reveals a dreamlike and lush universe, studded with a profusion of flowers, foliage and flamboyant groves.

The creations have an incredible lightness. In a light relief, they superimpose fine gold or diamond guipures in star or flower motifs on other flower or leaf motifs, evoking the charming disorder of nature. The brightly colored gemstones are juxtaposed in a sort of farandole mixing different cuts and settings, a signature of Dior Joaillerie’s style. Sapphires and Paraíba tourmalines rub shoulders with the incandescence of pink spinels and spessartite garnets, fuchsia pink sapphires and rubies. The necklaces are studded here and there with tiny cultured pearls, a fairly recent introduction to Dior jewelry. Some pieces are hemmed with a micro-pavé of diamonds whose subtle brilliance is reminiscent of the meticulous work of lace. Dior Milly Dentelle gracefully combines the splendor of the plant world so dear to Christian Dior.