PLAYING IT COOL
Style, sophistication and sustainability come together in actress Marion Cotillard’s Ice Cube Capsule for Chopard
It’s safe to say that most women – and especially world-famous actresses who frequently grace the red carpet – appreciate high jewellery and the luxury houses that produce it. But the relationship between French actress, singer and activist Marion Cotillard and Maison Chopard has been described as nothing short of a “long-term love affair”.
After receiving the Trophée Chopard for up-and-coming talent at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and wearing Chopard jewels when she was named Best Actress for La Vie en Rose at the 2008 Academy Awards, Cotillard has become an active ambassador for the brand and a close friend of co-president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele. Now, their partnership takes another step forward with the debut of the Ice Cube Capsule by Marion Cotillard.
“Chopard has accompanied me since my debut as an actress and I share Caroline Scheufele’s commitment to ethics, so this new collaboration is a great way to further strengthen the ties between us,” Cotillard says, referring to her and Scheufele’s pledge to the environment through the use of Fairmined gold and responsibly sourced diamonds.
In fact, Chopard is the first watchmaker- jeweller to bring transparency to its supply chain practices through the launch of its Journey to Sustainable Luxury initiative in 2013. “True luxury depends on knowing the origin of our products,” Scheufele says. “We know that the project is ambitious and that much remains to be done. Rome was not built in a day. But we have to start somewhere to improve the whole industry.”
Cotillard has supported Scheufele and the Journey to Sustainable Luxury from the start, becoming the first actress to wear the initial models from the Chopard Green Carpet Collection at Cannes in May 2013 and subsequently working with the artistic director to design a bracelet for the collection made with fully traceable and responsibly mined opals.
For this new capsule, Cotillard worked with artistic director Eliott Bliss to create six haute joaillerie ear clips and a one haute joaillerie ring that put on an even more contemporary spin on the graphic shapes of the Ice Cube collection. The ear clips are all different and designed to be worn solo, stacked, or mixed and matched – a departure from the usual aesthetic codes of traditional jewellery whereby earrings are sold as a set. The ring, also made from responsibly mined materials, is composed of two rings connected by a princess-cut solitaire diamond.
“Marion Cotillard is very creative and all our discussions on this project have been extremely inspiring,” Scheufele says. “By bringing her interpretation to our Ice Cube collection, she is inventing a contemporary and relaxed way to wear diamonds. It’s a great pleasure to combine her ideas with our expertise in the realm of ethical jewellery.”