Label lover
Stella Mccartney
Stella Mccartney trained with the tailor Edward Sexton on Savile Row after graduating from Central St Martins, and menswear has been in her design DNA ever since. From clean silhouettes to sexy trouser suits, she has spent decades translating the key tenets of menswear for women. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that she should finally start making menswear for actual men. Sold on a see-now/buy-now model, the clothes will be leather- and shearling-free. There will be two drops a year of a full collection, encompassing suits and separates, outerwear and accessories, with eyewear in the pipeline. The spring 2017 collection includes unusually proportioned suits in black, ink and racing green, granddad, dress and military shirt styles, and cargo pants, creased chinos and striped pyjamas alongside drawstring shorts, loose boiler suits and bombers galore. It’s the same tailored, offbeat hipster look that has had legions of women enraptured for years. Stella stuff.
alentine’s Day is perhaps the only time of year we’re allowed to get all mushy, so why not go all out? Unleash those overly sentimental lines and pair them with beautiful, love-laced pieces of jewellery—and you’ll be pleased to know there are plenty of new creations to choose from. Launched just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Bulgari Bulgari Cuore collection gives the eternal heart shape a modern take using pink gold, mother-of-pearl and diamonds. Van Cleef & Arpels gets into the mood with its classic Alhambra, adding hearts, leaves and butterflies to its four-leaf clovers. The Alhambra motif lends itself best to sautoir necklaces, which in this case use carnelian, malachite, tiger’s eye and mother-ofpearl. Another fail-safe Valentine’s Day gift would be Cartier’s Love bangle. A piece with a screw motif, it can only be opened or fastened with the screwdriver that comes with it. The Love bangle has been a stylish, symbolic jewel representing eternal love and commitment for more than four decades. Not surprisingly, Chopard turns the spotlight on one of its flagship collections, the Happy Hearts. A piece launched this year is a rose-gold ring set with vibrant red hearts made from reconstituted coral surrounding a single heart containing a moving diamond. If your style is more traditional, De Beers’ micropavé pink-gold heart pendant could suit, or perhaps a love-letter pendant in 18K gold set with diamonds from Harry Winston’s Charms collection. Another swoon-worthy piece is Piaget’s Heart ring in pink gold set with 185 brilliant-cut diamonds. But if you’re really looking to impress, Graff ’s heart-shaped yellow diamond earrings complemented with pearshaped and round white diamonds weighing a total of 33.55 carats will most certainly do it. Head over heels yet?
Founder and creative director of Chara Wen Background Taiwanese designer Rachel Wen was always drawn to jewellery. As a child, she would accompany her mother on her numerous jewellery shopping sprees, and was constantly raiding her mother’s jewellery box. “I was allowed to play with whatever jewels she had. And when she was shopping for jewellery, she would always ask for my opinion—and I had a lot even then! I think that is how I developed my unique aesthetic and my passion for jewels.”
Gift of Love When Wen became a mother herself, she shared her passion for jewellery with her daughter, Krystal. When Krystal turned 18 in 2009, Wen created a brand in her honour and called it Chara Wen—chara meaning happiness and joy. The brand, Wen says, is a gift to her daughter, and “a celebration of the joy and love she’s brought to my life.”
Art jewels
Mostly three-dimensional,
Wen’s jewels and timepieces truly are miniature works of art that take months to create. Each Chara Wen piece incorporates a small heartshaped Burmese ruby, which Wen says symbolises love and blessings. Her pieces have garnered international attention. Among her fans is French actress and model Inès de la Fressange, who was seen wearing a Chara Wen jewellery watch at Paris Fashion Week in 2015. Wen subsequently named the timepiece after the actress.