The highlights of Parisian high jewelry

The jewels presented in July in the capital during the couture week by some thirty brands are not experiencing the crisis. Fabulous stones, inspired designs, technical prowess, the new collections offered an exceptional demonstration of jewelry know-how.

Place Vendôme and the surrounding area, the various houses have deployed jewelry trends that stand out: natural diamonds, colored stones, especially spinels and opals, transformable pieces, evocations of nature as well as distant lands, or a very contemporary graphic elegance. An ultra-luxury "fashion week" that seduced customers and the international press alike.

Bestiary-style high jewelry at Chanel and Anna Hu

If humans could choose an animal attribute, they would probably set their sights on the wings. Like Chanel, which used this pattern for the first time to sign a collection called Reach for the stars. A symbol of freedom that evokes birds as well as angels. A moving nod to the artistic director of the jewellery store, Patrice Leguéreau, who sadly flew away this year, leaving this latest opus with a poetic name as a legacy.

The lion, Gabrielle Chanel's astrological sign and emblem of the house's jewelry, is also evoked in this new collection. Interpreted from the front or in profile, the feline makes necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings and brooches roar. In monochrome diamonds and white gold, in shades of rubies and red spinels, in yellow and white diamonds combined with yellow gold or in yellow sapphires and spessartite garnets, the variations are multiple.

Alongside flowers, roses and orchids in the lead, butterfly jewelry, a translation of "Hu" in Mandarin, flourishes at the home of designer Anna Hu. Eight gold brooches represent their multicolored wings thanks to the nano-electro plating of titanium, a high-flying craftsmanship. Their bodies are materialized by a stone: diamond, indigolite tourmaline, purple sapphire, fire opal, green tsavorite (garnet), red spinel...

To mark the theme of the snake celebrated this year, Anna Hu has also dedicated three pieces to it. A hand jewel with a double snake in gold and titanium, inspired by the jewel created in 2010 for the artist Cindy Sherman, a Cleopatra necklace, named after the famous Queen of Egypt, in yellow gold adorned with red spinel and diamond beads, as well as matching earrings.

Inspired high jewelry at Messika and De Beers

Continuing the common thread of its Essence of Nature collection, De Beers has chosen in this second chapter the four emblematic trees of its diamond-producing countries: the acacia for Namibia, the baobab for Botswana, the jacaranda for South Africa and the maple for Canada.

We will remember the use of acacia bark and jet in the jewelry but also exceptional diamond specimens such as a "fancy intense" pink of 1.01 carats or an exceptional blue-green diamond.

The latest highlight is the transformability of the Camelthorn Resilience necklace, which can be worn in seven different ways.

At Messika, the Terres d'instinct collection was born from a trip of the founder, Valérie Messika, to Namibia. Freely inspired by this discovery, the sets are also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the house. The centerpiece, the Kalahara necklace, is adorned with a 35-carat yellow diamond. For the first time, the jeweller is integrating coloured stones into its creations: Zambian emeralds, sapphires, spinels and garnets. A creative shift that sheds new light on her jewelry that is perfectly in tune with the times.

Graphic High Jewelry at Graff, Repossi, Bucherer and Vhernier

Like art, jewelry can be both figurative and abstract. In this latest trend, several brands have distinguished themselves brilliantly. Graff, who is more accustomed to large stones with exponential caratations, caused a sensation with a very sixties motif for his set called "1963": concentric ellipses set with small baguette, oval and round diamonds on a necklace, a bracelet and matching earrings. A brilliant way to celebrate the decade that saw the birth of the English brand.

At Repossi, the Blast collection was in the spotlight. In other words, an iconic cuff that gave birth to 21 pieces of high jewelry. The curves of the spiral motif are drawn by a coiled gold thread enhanced with pear-shaped diamonds, a precious punctuation where the gems seem weightless.

Bucherer continues its Skyline theme, evoking the skyline formed by New York architecture in an Art Deco spirit, with two new pieces in white and yellow diamonds set in white gold, a collection of natural diamond and opal brooches as well as a set in diamonds and green tourmalines that required remarkable pairing.

The centrepiece of this new set designed by Bucherer Fine Jewellery, the necklace in white gold, diamonds and tourmalines, displays a sumptuous spectacle of light and colour. True miracles of nature, these 22 tourmalines change color according to the light, going from peacock green to indigo blue. Their brilliance is amplified by 44 teardrop-shaped diamonds of remarkable qualities.

The Italian Vhernier took over the Brancusi workshop on the esplanade of the Pompidou Centre to present its first high jewelry collection with sculpturally beautiful Ardis necklaces and cuffs . The perfectly velvety paving of white diamonds, yellow diamonds or blue sapphires is inscribed on the gold associated with various metals such as aluminum and titanium. A beautiful quest for lightness and aesthetics carried by the contrast of materials.

Evening High Jewelry at Buccellati and Tasaki

In addition to its breathtaking gold tulle jewelry, its cocktail rings with XXL stones and its chiseled gold cuffs, Buccellati offered a capsule of three bags during this haute couture week . Little wonders for the evening in black or green velvet dressed in gold and diamonds that pay tribute to the house's know-how and past.

The Japanese jeweler Tasaki is continuing the Ritz Paris collection, a nod to the crazy parties organized by César Ritz at the turn of the 20th century. Pearl necklaces and necklaces compete with imposing emerald, sapphire or ruby sets illuminated by showers of diamonds.

Floral High Jewelry at Boucheron, Pasquale Bruni and Serendipity

Once again, the work of Boucheron's artistic director, Claire Choisne, caused a sensation. On the menu, six jewelry and floral compositions inspired by the Japanese art of ikebana honor thistles, cyclamen, tulips, oats, eucalyptus... Or how to contemplate the beauty of this nature in a different way to better protect it. Each composition offers several pieces of jewelry to wear: necklace, brooch, double finger ring, bracelet, hair, ear or shoulder jewelry. To create these extraordinary objects, the French house did not hesitate to use materials considered non-precious such as borosilicate glass or bio-sourced resin. Jewelry for both men and women, just like each of the collections signed by the designer.

At Pasquale Bruni, the garden of an aunt of the family inspired a collection dedicated to the rose, "Rosina". A deluge of white gold and diamonds that sculpt the petals of the queen of flowers, symbol of all the female personalities who have mattered in our lives.

While Serendipity mixes the memory of the Chinese garden of the founder's grandparents, Christine Chen, and that of Monet in Giverny to deliver the expression of a dreamlike and delicate interior landscape with a very nice French know-how. Opals, conch pearls, golden pearls, tanzanites, padparadscha sapphires, Colombian emeralds and turquoises combined with diamonds, gold, titanium and plique-à-jour enamel paint a delicate, more beautiful than life Garden of Dreams.