Quirky compositions, uncommon colors, and contemporary graphics defined the high and fine jewelry collections on show in and around the Place Vendôme during the Spring 2017 Haute Couture collections. Anything goes, so long as the statement is big and bold.
Solange Azagury-Partridge
When she realized she had a lot of loose stones sitting around, Solange Azagury-Partridge decided to throw what she calls a “party on your hand,” explaining, “I hate the idea of jewels just sleeping in a safe and doing nothing." Here, exclusively on Vogue.com, are two of her Poptails: The Flower and Micki rings have six more color- and process-intensive siblings in sculptural shapes most with ceramic plate and lacquer. Think of them as anti-layering statements: One ring says it all.
Giampiero Bodino
When he’s not acting as art director for all the Richemont group’s brands, the multitalented Giampiero Bodino turns out very haute jewelry under his own name. With his first foray into timepieces, he revealed three one-of-a-kind high-jewelry bracelets with secret watches. The one inside the Rosa dei Venti bracelet is concealed under an 11.49-carat Zambian cabochon emerald surrounded by sapphires, rubies, and diamonds on a bracelet with lacy fleur-de-lys motif.
Suzanne Syz Art Jewels
With her very first design, a large turquoise necklace, contemporary art collector Suzanne Syz landed a legendary client: Elizabeth Taylor bought it right off her after a lunch. Today, she and her team turn out about 50 pieces per year that are shown alongside art and jewelry shows in places like Gstaad, New York, and London. This “Power to the Flower” ring is set in titanium with spinels, rose cut diamonds, yellow diamonds, and ceramic pistils surrounding an important, irregularly shaped emerald.
Cadar
A fashion designer for years, Michal Kadar closed shop to pursue a lifelong passion. “I realized that I wanted to focus on something more permanent, but that would be out in the world and having fun,” she notes. Last week, she showed her latest Bloom pieces alongside selected favorites: The Reflections earrings are a riff on the evil eye. “The whole idea is about looking within,” Kadar notes. “Things are not always as they appear. All my pieces have layers of meaning.” She also does wardrobe updates; ring jackets based on the one she designed for herself can transform an engagement ring in a flash.
Tasaki
For the second act in its collaboration with the Ritz Paris, Japan’s premier producer of pearls revealed a selection of graphic motifs inspired by sunlight pouring into the secret garden at the legendary hotel, including these Réve Ritz earrings with “Wallis blue” akoya pearls. These are but a prelude to a larger collection by the house’s creative director, Thakoon Panichgul, to be revealed this summer.
Louis Vuitton
The Blossom collection continues to bud with new varieties of the house’s Monogram flowers at both ends of the price spectrum, from flexible bracelets right on up to the upper echelons of rarity. Here, an example of the latter: Weighing in at more than 20 carats, this exceedingly rare lavender sapphire from Sri Lanka nestles among calibrated diamonds reprising the house’s second initial.
De Beers
At the center of the De Beers showroom sat a rough 109-carat diamond of windowpane transparency which, once cut, could likely yield a 50-to-60-carat pear- or emerald-cut diamond. This display of “raw beauty with no filter,” as De Beers CEO François Delage put it, showcased the house’s diamond expertise; nearby sat five loose diamonds perhaps worth a cumulative $30 million-plus, just making a brief appearance on their way to becoming bespoke creations. Stealth diamonds, the ones with once-in-a-blue moon colors, is what clients are after now, Delage noted. “They can be enjoyed, hold or increase value, and travel easily—and to a casual observer, they don’t scream money. No other investment comes close.”