FINE LINES
Tiffany debuts a new collection, but despite its liberal use of diamonds, T1 is an approachable, modern-take on jewellery. By Alice Birrell.
DIAMONDS, THE STONES that seem never to relinquish their mesmeric grip on us, have been given a minimalist rework in Tiffany & Co.’s newest collection. With streamlined bangles, rings and a trophy piece – a kinetic, sinuous choker made to meld to the neck via articulated links – the precious stone takes its surprisingly well-suited place in our everyday wardrobes.
The streamlined look is evidence of chief artistic officer Reed Krakoff’s belief that diamonds shouldn’t be saved for special occasions (though Tiffany has a bread-and-butter trade in this, too). “At Tiffany, we are looking to redefine modern luxury, which to me means living with beautiful things daily and making exquisite things part of your life and personal style,” he says. “The pieces can be worn every day as a celebration of yourself.”
An evolution of the T collection, the pieces will be unveiled this month in rose gold and build upon a 1980s motif discovered in the New York jeweller’s archives. (For close watchers, the choker, with 240 baguette and brilliant custom-cut diamonds, made an early debut in London on the neck of Charlize Theron at Tiffany’s BAFTA afterparty.) Simpler than their predecessors – there is just one ‘T’, which closes a full loop, unlike the slightly parted double Ts of the first T collection launched in 2014 – Krakoff sees the diamond bangles from the collection lending “off-hand” and “irreverent” appeal to a woman’s usual wardrobe. Paired as accessories to jeans and a button-down, or this season’s ultra-abbreviated LBDs, it would be easy to see how their clean lines and rectilinear accent would achieve this goal.
Krakoff and the design and technical teams took a year to bring T1’s elegant forms, though simple, to life. “We went through several rounds of sketches and renderings before the product was finalised for production,” he says. Each piece is individually cast and hand-polished by master craftspeople, and although not all will feature diamonds, those that do are responsibly sourced, cut in Tiffany workshops and individually placed by hand to create a glittering pavé setting.
An observer of modern life in his home city of New York, Krakoff is studious about discovering how jewellery fits into the usual routines of customers in 2020. “I’m always thinking about how people are living today and working to understand what they want and need,” he says. “We want to design beautiful things that are relevant to modern life, that make people happy, that people connect to in a meaningful way … luxury should be effortless, even casual.”