The High Life

Some extraordinary pieces from this year’s high jewellery collections

Chanel

Named after the yacht of Coco Chanel’s beau Hugh Grosvenor, the second Duke of Westminster, the Flying Cloud collection takes inspiration from long, luxurious summers spent drifting on the twinkling azure of the Mediterranean Sea. Timed to coincide with cruise season and presented in two chapters, the collection is a tribute to the endless shades of deep, dark blue and the shimmering golden sunlight on broad ocean expanses. The first chapter explores the necessities of life at sea: buoys sculpted in white gold, cultured pearls in ropes crafted from gold and diamonds, anchors in white gold, and yellow gold set with sapphires and diamonds to form sailor tattoos. The second is themed around a nautical wardrobe: sailor stripes of deep blue sapphires, white gold and cultured pearls, large buttons of yellow or white gold like those on sailor jackets paired with bracelets and rings of golden, knotted rope set with diamonds. All aboard!

Graff

Graff is known for its huge, flawless stones and dedication to crafting the most magnificent jewels. And its latest collection does not disappoint, which includes extravagant pieces dripping in impeccably cut yellow and white diamonds in sizes that will make anyone’s jaw drop. It’s through these exquisite pieces the luxury jeweller’s capability to source the world’s most exceptional diamonds, and display its mastery in cutting, shine. Among the stunning pieces is a necklace set with multi-shape yellow and white diamonds totalling over 116 carats, with a matching diamondencrusted bracelet with a total of close to 60 carats. And if that were not enough to make your heart skip a beat, here’s a necklace set with extremely rare radiantcut yellow diamonds, surrounded by round- and pearshaped white diamonds that form floral silhouettes. Simply breathtaking.

De Beers

Inspired by the serene beauty of its namesake, the Lotus collection by De Beers captures the extraordinary lifecycle of the beautiful and symbolic bloom in five exceptional sets, each conjuring a different phase of the lotus’ journey out of water and into light. Named Awakening, Blooming, Flourishing, Radiating and Soothing, each tells a story through an unusual mix of princess, pear, baguette, marquise, oval and round brilliant diamonds. The final set in the series, the Soothing Lotus, uses rough diamonds—a De Beers signature—and polished diamonds in greens, pinks and yellows to evoke the dusky colours of sunlight-dappled water, or hundreds of lily pads decorating the surface of a pond. This unique presentation includes a 296-carat rough yellow diamond, a 117-carat rough brown diamond and a 58-carat rough white diamond.

Boucheron

As the first French jeweller to open a shop in Moscow, in 1897, Boucheron has close ties to the landscape and heritage of imperial Russia. Its latest collection, Hiver Impérial, has three themes: the brilliantly white, frosty Russian landscape (Lumière de Nuit), the fashions of Slavic empresses wrapped in pearls and pale furs (Femmes Boréales), and the unique skylines of Russia’s imperial cities (L’anneau d’or), an ode to rooftops, cupolas and onion domes. The Rostov is an oversized medallion inlaid with wood and diamonds to represent a dome as seen from above. Intricate cut-outs depict roof tiles, while the peak of the dome is crowned with a round 4.14-carat diamond.

Bulgari

Everyone loves a party, and none more than Bulgari. The brand’s latest collection, Festa, is a dazzling compendium of 100 jewels and high-end watches that pay homage to Italy’s festivals and parties of all kinds. Inspired by everything from traditional community fiestas to children’s birthdays and courtly balls, the designs sing with the vivid colours of tourmaline, turquoise, coral and jade, capturing the jubilance of celebration.

Cartier

The Résonances de Cartier collection draws on motifs and references in the company’s archives, expressing them through an eclectic mix of designs with vivacity and a freshness of aesthetic. Classic art deco stone combinations are reimagined with vibrant and graphic designs. Among the standouts is the Hyperbole necklace, set with a 140.21-carat square-shaped cabochon-cut emerald, which can be transformed into a tiara. Another daring piece is the Eurythmie bracelet, set with lapis lazuli and brilliant-cut diamonds. These pieces are classic Cartier, but with an intriguingly modern twist.

Chaumet

The latest collection from the Paris maison, Chaumet est une fête, is themed around four world-famous music venues and honours the eternal magic of music and its ability to capture the imagination. Pastorale Anglaise celebrates the bucolic bliss of the English country house Glyndebourne, with refined jewels that hint at a British nonchalance; the reds used in Aria Passionata recall the great Italian operas of Milan’s La Scala; the soft colour palette of Rhapsodie Transatlantique would befit any sleek and sophisticated Upper West Sider attending the Metropolitan Opera of New York; and Valses d’hiver is an ode to the lightness of Strauss waltzes at the Vienna Opera, with delicate whirls of pearls and diamonds that evoke the movement of lace twirling on a dancefloor.

Chopard

When the worlds of fine jewellery and couture collide, the result is often a frisson of opulence and energy. Chopard co-president Caroline Scheufele’s collaboration with Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei is no exception. Presented at Paris Haute Couture Week, pieces from the vibrant and bold Silk Road collection were worn with Guo Pei’s signature elaborate gowns. Incorporating emeralds, rubies, diamonds and jade, the collection is an Asia-inspired meditation on opulence and oriental drama that reveals not only fresh ties between the worlds of jewellery and couture, but also between the inspirations of two extraordinarily talented women.

Cindy Chao

Following up her 2016 debut at the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris, Cindy Chao’s 2017 collection features 12 magnificent creations that, as ever, take inspiration from the natural world and cross the line between art and jewellery. The splendid Ribbon ring, for example, features an extremely rare 1.5-carat red diamond, while the Rose earrings bear two conch pearls weighing a total of 30.01 carats, and more than 10 gradients of yellow diamonds on the petals. Both belong to Chao’s Black Label collection, her most prestigious and exclusive line. Chao sources only the world’s finest gemstones for her one-off Black Label Masterpieces, which often take up to two years to create.

Dior

Artistic director Victoire de Castellane’s latest collection for Dior Fine Jewellery once again takes inspiration from the Palace of Versailles, this time moving from the interiors to its famous gardens, designed by André Le Nôtre for Louis XIV. With stones cut so perfectly they recall topiary pruned to perfection, and grassy emerald paths intersected by water jets of diamonds and sapphire flowers, the Dior à Versailles, Côté Jardins collection takes a delightful ramble through France’s most famous regal grounds to “rediscover,” says Castellane, “the paradoxical combining of nature and culture so characteristic of Le Notre’s work and of the park at Versailles.”

Harry Winston

The Winston Legacy is a remarkable 101.73-carat pear-shaped diamond acquired by the House of Harry Winston in 2013. The stone—so exquisite and rare that Christie’s described it as “the most perfect diamond ever offered for sale at auction”—is the inspiration for the Legacy collection. Each of the 22 magnificent, one-of-a-kind high jewellery pieces in the collection has been designed to highlight the D colour, internally flawless diamond at its core.

Louis Vuitton

Conquêtes, French for conquest, is a collection that brings the maison’s two signature motifs—the monogram flower and the V—together for the first time in the design of three dazzling necklaces and some 60 pieces of jewellery. The necklaces, which take inspiration from exotic flowers, are showstoppers. The first features a 37.07-carat imperial topaz, the second a blue 54.30-carat tourmaline suspended on a long chain of pearls and diamonds, and the third is set with a 16.82-carat mandarin garnet.

Mikimoto

Mikimoto’s Praise to Nature collection pays tribute to the mercurial charm of the everchanging sea. Gold pearls represent the radiance of the sunrise on the sea, white pearls symbolise the moon illuminating the inkyblack ocean, while the natural flow of colours of pearls and coloured gemstones evoke the tranquillity of the sea. Exquisite craftsmanship abounds in a pearl collar necklace that uses 18K white gold, Japanese Akoya cultured pearls and diamonds, while the design of a pearl string necklace—comprising 18K white gold, white South Sea cultured pearls, Akoya cultured pearls, sapphires, garnet, alexandrite and diamonds—emulates ribbons gently waltzing around a group of shimmering fish.

Nirav Modi

The dazzling diamonds Nirav Modi unveiled at this year’s Paris Biennale cemented its reputation as a diamantaire extraordinaire. In the Luminance Necklace, the epitome of classicism, myriad pear-shaped diamonds in an array of cuts are meticulously positioned over a handcrafted rose-cut diamond-embellished bed, allowing the piece to fold over like a scarf. The Emerald Waterfall earrings, meanwhile, have exquisite Colombian emeralds cascading with shimmering brilliant- and rose-cut diamonds—a gushing waterfall of colour and sparkle.