Editor’s Note
This article traces the remarkable evolution of high jewelry presentations, from a niche addition to the Paris calendar in 2007 to the major, multi-day spectacle it is today. It explores how this shift has transformed the industry’s marketing and creative expression.
In 2007, the French Federation of Haute Couture introduced seemingly innocuous lines into its fashion show calendar that, in fact, announced a major innovation: a half-day dedicated to high jewelry presentations. The participating houses were few. Presentations took place within boutiques, in front of the counters. The progress made since then is remarkable. Twice a year, a multitude of brands (far from all of which are historical jewelers) stagger over several days in January and several weeks in May and June the unveiling of jewels freshly emerged from workshops. These unveilings are orchestrated around spring travels, evening events, and lavish scenographies created for the occasion. There is no official program: the competition is so intense that houses increasingly organize their festivities simultaneously.
The reasons that, at the time, favored this convergence between haute couture and high jewelry are understandable. Both activities celebrate the art of the unique piece crafted by expert hands with an ever-increasing demand for quality. The comparison stops there: auctioned off at the end of January, the exceptional collection of 95 haute couture dresses belonging to Mona Ayoub totaled over 6 million euros. The same week, a single ring crowned with a 23-carat unheated Padparadscha sapphire was sold by the house David Morris for a much higher sum. This amount, while highlighting the interest of major luxury groups in this discipline (fashion houses have been inaugurating jewelry divisions one after another for about twenty years), also explains the specificity of the sector: providing heritage assets whose value does not diminish over the years.
This value is not defined solely by the materials composing exceptional pieces but also by the prestige of a signature. This prestige is organized around three key themes that were particularly highlighted at the end of January during this week of Parisian presentations. To cope with the current abundance of offerings, the vast majority of houses presented very few pieces to the press in order to better hammer home these three essential, interacting elements. The first concerns purely aesthetic research that expresses a personal vision of the beautiful object. That is to say, one that defines an identity.
indicates Claire Choisne, who chose to reveal four pieces, no more, to portray the founder of the house Boucheron: the architectural power of Place Vendôme, where the jeweler inaugurated its boutique before its competitors; the exaltation of feminine freedom embodied by the Question Mark necklace, which is put on with a simple gesture thanks to its lack of clasp; and the attraction to an untamed nature that questions our place in the living world. Olga Corsini, new artistic director of Chaumet, crystallized the originality of a venerable house through a capsule collection that resurrected an ancestral technique favored by the house – grand feu enamel – combined with a favorite motif – the wing – and a signature color – royal blue – reconciling majesty and serenity. The clarity of the message prevails over the race for volume.
The second key to understanding the current success of contemporary high jewelry concerns the obligation that some houses impose on themselves to stay in tune with the world. The Vimini line, unveiled by Bvlgari, while echoing the jewelry of the 1940s (a period during which the gold from old settings was willingly melted down to forge the necessarily opulent volumes of easily transportable jewels), reveals pieces with imposing yet fluid volumes to unleash the full aesthetic potential of the archival model. Modernity is also expressed through the use of innovative materials: diamond-like carbon (DLC) at the Roman jeweler, used as an avant-garde coating; titanium at designer Anna Hu, who carves flowers studded with precious stones in this ultra-light and resistant material without cheapening the perceived value of the object. Lightness and modularity: contrary to popular belief, major jewelers are interested in how people interact with each other.
The third key is the fundamental notion of longevity. High jewelry is conceived as an asset, an investment whose value is meant to endure or even appreciate. This is a central argument in its marketing, distinguishing it from more ephemeral fashion accessories.
