When chunky chains began dominating this yr’s excessive jewelry collections, the electro-hop beats of Salt-N-Pepa’s 1987 hit Push It pumped round my mind for days. The musical connection additionally struck a chord with Ehssan Moazen, artistic director of Chaumet, one of many oldest jewelry maisons on Paris’ Place Vendôme. ‘Our ‘Tulip’ necklace does have a touch of Eighties streetwear and a contact of punk to it,’ he says of the heavy diamond-set piece from this yr’s Le Jardin de Chaumet assortment.
But it’s uncommon for a jeweller whose enterprise is significantly treasured supplies to create massive, daring items that could be confused with avenue ‘bling’. In spite of everything, excessive jewelry is, by its very nature, designed to final. ‘Being recognised as a conventional home for our historical past, craftsmanship and the standard of our jewels is necessary – it’s in our DNA,’ says Moazen. ‘However it turns into a problem if we solely lean in the direction of our previous.’ As such, he sees the voluminous ‘Tulip’, with its off-centre 10.70ct Tanzanian pink spinel, as Pomellato championed modern chains ‘the precise inspiration to convey contrasting from the off, making use of its superb, 18kt gold influences in a extremely refined approach’.
Tulip’ white gold necklace with 10.70ct spinel, pink spinels, spessartite garnets and diamonds, worth on request, by Chaumet. Gown, £2,300, by Alaïa
(Picture credit score: Philippe Lacombe)
If there was ever a second for the unique world of excessive jewelry to embrace broader cultural inspirations, that point is now. World excessive jewelry gross sales boomed all through the pandemic, with the-then-necessary direct-to-client video calls now seen as a extremely efficient norm for some manufacturers. Current surveys count on the marketplace for extremely treasured designs to develop exponentially by 2025, as shoppers bask within the exclusivity of one-off creations and the rarity of earth-born gem stones. Then there’s the overriding affect of right this moment’s music megastars preferring actual diamonds and pearls to the comedian, overblown avenue variations of yore.
For Milanese jewelry home Pomellato, it has at all times been thus. The home will not be new to vogue, nor the chain sport. However it’s a newcomer to the excessive jewelry area. Established within the Italian metropolis in 1967, Pomellato championed modern chains from the off, making use of its superb, 18kt gold flavour to the symbolic pendant designs most well-liked by the hippie motion. The sounds of the instances have additionally performed their half. In Sixties music subcultures, a swinging pendant or two spoke of a subversive, sensual energy, significantly for males. As Pomellato’s artistic director, Vincenzo Castaldo, says: ‘Our dialogue with vogue at all times makes its approach into chain design – it turns into extra rock ‘n’ roll and overtly seductive.’
The start line for the excessive jewelry Castello chain, a sensational addition to Pomellato’s newest excessive jewelry assortment ‘Ode to Milan’, was a 1970’s choker from the archives. “It had this neo-medieval look harking back to the dominating structure of the Castello Sforzesco,” Castaldo says. “We had been seeking to discover a hyperlink between Milan’s historical past and Pomellato’s heritage, so we took its essence of energy and invincibility and added a softer distinction with the stones” – 5 rubellites and 28 carats of diamonds, to be exact.
To this point, so basic, however the addition of velvety rubellites and the sheer inventiveness of the Castello design – diamond-set angular baguette cuts on rose-gold plaques, linked by chunky diamond-set gourmette hyperlinks – reveals how Pomellato has appropriated the home motif as a playground for critical high-jewellery strategies.
Tiger Head necklace in pink gold, emeralds, and black and white diamonds, worth on request, by Gucci. Gown, £1,450, by Stella McCartney
(Picture credit score: Philippe Lacombe)
The non-gender avenue attraction of chains was by no means misplaced on Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s former artistic director, whose creative excessive jewelry collections grew to become fairly pendant- centered. The emerald-eyed panther necklace wouldn’t have regarded misplaced on Neneh Cherry’s 1989 Uncooked Like Sushi album cowl. The poppy hip-hop star stands defiant, dripping in urban-jeweller’s gold – pendant round neck, bangles stacked on wrist. “I used to be influenced by the concept of blending the resilient and the basic, utilizing city avenue type with basic objects,” Cherry instructed a newspaper on the time of the album’s re-release in 2020.
At Chaumet, Ehssan Moazen and his Paris group are additionally busy conflating the resilience of high-jewellery custom with up to date mores. The Tulipe design began as a series, which, Loazen says, “merely grew to become the extension of the abstracted tulip.” However there’s a extra philosophical bent to the story: “We favored the notion of a single idea coupled with an impressive gemstone. Right here, it’s a feeling of ‘energy’.”
The Chaumet Tulipe undoubtedly captures the type temper, however the excessive jewelry expression affords a degree of sophistication and intricacy that, like every pop diva value her gold-plated microphone, completely calls for a double take.
A model of this story seems within the January 2024 Subsequent Era Subject of Wallpaper*, out there in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple Information +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* right this moment!
Supply: Wallpaper
