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In 1924, Louis Cartier created the Trinity, a ring composed of three intertwined mobile bands in platinum, yellow and rose gold. It has never been discontinued in its century of existence. Coinciding with the Trinity’s 100-year anniversary, Cartier introduced two new designs: a square, cushion-shaped version and a modular version that can be worn as one large band.
Cartier celebrated the anniversary of the Trinity this month with great fanfare: there were dinners in New York, London and Paris, with some 1,000 guests convening to Paris’s Petit Palais for a big bash. Jisoo, Paul Mescal, Jackson Wang, Yara Shahidi — who star in the new Trinity campaign — were among attendees at the Paris event, as well as Sofia Coppola, Monica Bellucci and Vanessa Kirby. Labrinth, Sia and Diplo performed. “Trinity is the icons’ icon,” Cartier SVP and chief marketing officer Arnaud Carrez says.
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The scale of the celebration demonstrated as much the importance of icons in jewellery as Cartier’s firepower. “Icons have recognisability, thus pricing power and the importance of icons within the jewellery sector has been turbocharged by the importance of social media,” says Edouard Aubin, managing director at Morgan Stanley.
Leading styles such as Cartier’s Trinity, Van Cleef Arpels’s Alhambra, and Bulgari’s Serpenti are the holy grail for jewellery brands as they allow them to reach a wider and younger clientele. “They are key both in terms of sales and image,” says Cartier’s Carrez. But there’s no magic formula, he says, stressing “a real singularity to the design is the starting point for success”.
To qualify as an icon, a piece of jewellery has to stand the test of time, namely a generation, according to Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron. Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin says building an icon requires “strategic commitment”. While introduced in 1948, Serpenti only became a significant part of the business when the house decided to start building it in the early 2010s. Within a decade, Serpenti became an icon, with sales estimated above €1 billion, according to analysts.
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“When we look at what all these objects have in common: their practicality and wearability, their unique design and the symbolic dimension,” Cartier’s image, style and heritage director Pierre Rainero says, noting that the Trinity is both “mysterious and magical” in the sense that nobody knows how the three rings are assembled.
“Cartier always wins because they have the largest portfolio of icons — Love, Juste Un Clou, Panthère and Trinity — and the firepower to make any relaunch a hit,” says Mario Ortelli, managing director of Ortelli Co. Cartier introduced the Love in 1969, a bangle with a binding closure and screw motif as a symbol for permanence and eternal love; Juste Un Clou in 1971, a bracelet modelled off a bent nail, representative of the house’s ability to transform everyday objects; and Panthère, featuring a panther-shaped pattern, the house’s emblem.
And then there’s Clash, which was introduced in 2019 and has yet to earn icon status. “We established it as a recognisable product. Time will tell if it’s an icon, if another generation finds the same interest. But, we think it can become one,” Vigneron told Vogue Business last year.
Cartier is the world’s largest jewellery brand. Its sales will reach €10.37 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2024, crossing the €10 billion mark for the first time, according to HSBC global head of consumer and retail research Erwan Rambourg. He estimates that Love could make up as much as 20 per cent of sales.
Reviving icons has remained key in the strategy of Cartier since Vigneron became CEO in 2016. “Cartier is a master at relaunching its archives in a perfectly paced manner,” Ortelli says. “Trinity is very relevant today because of its sleek design — very quiet luxury — and its unisex appeal,” he notes.
To what extent is it possible to revisit an icon? “It’s good to animate an icon as long as it enhances the positive image of the house,” says Cartier’s Carrez. “It’s our role to ensure that creativity is relevant. The new square Trinity is bold — in everyone’s mind, Trinity is round — without diluting the message. That’s Cartier’s ability to push the envelope with beautiful designs.” This new iteration of Trinity hit stores in January and “sells very well, even before the campaign started… We see a lot of potential.”
In an interview last year, Vigneron dismissed the risk of ubiquity for jewellery icons. “When it comes to star brands and products, in a certain context, the more you see them, the more you want them. Covid has accelerated that.”
Rambourg says: “You only buy at Cartier once, twice or three times in a lifetime so of course you want to purchase what they are known for.”
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