A CERTAIN ROMANCE

Cartier’s Love bracelet is elegant yet sturdy, faithful to the essence of love and commitment

To the chic denizens of ‘70s New York City, nothing was more revolutionary and romantic than the Cartier Love bracelet crafted by Italian jewelry designer Aldo Cipullo. This bracelet, designed as a band with a slotted screw head pattern, necessitated a miniature screwdriver for both fastening and unfastening, but most importantly, it required the presence of a lover to assist. The idea is that, once the bracelet is locked on one lover’s wrist, the other would keep the tool. “What modern people want are love symbols that look semi-permanent,” Cipullo said. “Or, at least, require a trick to remove. After all, love symbols should suggest an everlasting quality.”

The Cartier Love bracelet is composed of two beautifully curved arcs that form an elliptical shape to fit to the curvature of a wrist. Its industrial-style screws echo the rivets on the bezel of the iconic Santos de Cartier watch. From the bracelet’s precise proportions to the perfect alignment of the screws, which follows the parallel lines of the band, it’s no surprise that it quickly became the perfect symbol of love for couples.

The Love bracelet was worn by some of the world’s most famous couples, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Ali Macgraw and Steve Mcqueen, and Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti. Today, the Love bracelet can be seen on the wrists of Meghan Markle, Sofia Coppola, Victoria Beckham, and the list goes on. Throughout its multi-decade history, the Love bracelet has evolved to encompass an entire Love collection that includes rings, earrings, necklaces, and different bracelet styles, all in the same design first created by Cipullo.