High Jewellery: the Couture Bow

High Jewellery Week was full of ribbons and bows, a tribute to Couture Week

I loved the high jewellery collections presented during the Paris Couture Week. As you know, I’m crazy about bows and have been for some time, I created a bow ring for a Maison that specialises in engagement rings. There is no greater fan of ribbons and bows than I.

This couture trend began at the SIHH 2017 with Maison Van Cleef & Arpels presenting two superb ribbon secret watches, one with diamonds and the other with a very nice gradient of pink sapphires and diamonds. My big favourite for this edition.

Maison Chanel with its new collection Coco avant Chanel evokes the period of the great Gabrielle Chanel when she was a hatter and before she became the famous Coco Chanel. Couture and delicate, the bow and the camellia are reworked in the manner of the hatter handling perfectly flowers and ribbons. The use of pink stones like kunzite, spinel and sapphire together with pearls or moonstones reveals a softness and delicacy worthy of any haute couture dress.

Maison Chaumet presented a new collection, Insolence. A sense of simplicity added to a sophisticated and original bow for jewels you can wear every day. You just need to decide what size of diamond you prefer… Pure bliss.

Maison Dior, declines a collection made of opales with ribbons for a result dear to Victoire de Castellane since it highlights her favourite stone. Absolutely fabulous white or black opals from Australia together with ribbons and couture pleats, also iconic of the brand.

More bows for the jewellery Maison Damiani. I rediscovered the divine Fiocco collection, result from a collaboration with Nicoletta Romanoff. Damiani also presented a new collection named Emozioni, full diamond pieces including a necklace with a beautiful aquamarine and ingeniously set with a marquise diamond, giving the illusion that the diamond is bigger than it is.

Maison Louis Vuitton always amazes us with its gem selection and especially sublime spinels of rare colours. The brand updated last summer’s Blossom collection with an Art Deco and modernist touch. Remember that the Art Deco period is certainly the most beautiful and creative period in the history of jewellery. It is a beautiful tribute to renew these codes and enhance the style with superb precious stones.

Maison Boucheron presented a new version of a collection presented two years ago at Baselworld, on the theme of ivy – Nature Triomphante – which I enjoyed very much. Evoking the theme of nature as seen on the fashion shows, the brand showcased a magnificent necklace, two secret watches and a two finger ring. A colourful and very 70’s version of the Serpent Bohème collection was also presented with gemstones faceted in the manner of hard stones with a more uneven look.

Some may say that all this lacks creativity and that all the jewellery Maisons do the same thing, I even heard one comment “it looks like they have the same designer“. I do not think so. It is just that in difficult times, risk aversion pulls high jewellery back to the fundamuntals, therefore more classical themes. I actually love it! Elegant jewellery, to be worn on all occasions with quality stones. High jewellery is especially made to sublimate the woman, using high end technique and an incomparable know-how we should be proud of.

Maison De Beers also showcased its diamond know-how. There were rough diamonds looking like multicoloured candy, letting our imagination roam free about what the cut diamond would eventually look like. A diamond is all it needs to be beautiful, especially with this rough diamond of 109 carats.

We mustn’t forget the extraordinary artists who also presented their creations during the haute couture week:

The talented Suzanne Syz who after working with titanium does not hesitate to use aluminum for her ever more original creations and jewellery such as her bell earrings, her diadem transformable into a necklace, or her adorable cufflinks.

The hype Solange Azagury Partridge who featured rings worthy of superheroes. Remember that she is the creator of the Hotlips ring, a ring we all fell for, it won the French « Talent d’Or » prize this year.

Master Giampiero Bodino, who for the first time presented mysterious secret watches, each part of one of his iconic collections: Mosaico, Primavera and Rosa dei Venti, perfect incarnations of his refined taste and his talented and original style.

Finally, I discovered the refined creations of Japanese Maison Tasaki who has just settled in the Ritz Hotel.

As well as the New York brand Cadar which plays with jewellery, offering a changing jewel that can be transformed according to our desires and our mood. I loved the collections Water and Bloom!

It was a couture week just like I love them. I am looking forward to July already, I’ve been told it will be sumptuous. I cannot wait.