To Love Extraordinarily
Alexander Charriol, an heir to the luxury watch and jewellery heritage brand, was recently in Manila for some big family declarations, including a special announcement he and fiancé, Katia Cohen, shared
Just as “Living Extraordinarily” is the tagline of the well-loved maison, “Loving Extraordinarily” seems to be the fitting story line for Alexander Charriol and his lovely fiancé, Katia Cohen.
“We want it small,” revealed Charriol, the art director and new director of licenses, of their upcoming nuptials. “Very small,” agreed Cohen. “Just 150 people—we want it intimate, and on the beach.”
Cohen, an interior designer and a former marketing and business communications whiz who has worked with the likes of Christian Dior, Fendi, and Cartier, among others, and Charriol have been shuffling between destinations (South Africa and Australia were initial options) but have ultimately narrowed down the pied-à-terre’s location to Italy and the more likely south of France. “We both have been going to Saint-Tropez since we were young and my parents just bought a house there. It feels like my vacation place so it makes sense,” said the gorgeous blonde.
A year after they met, Charriol proposed to Cohen on 7 November 2018 at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California. “We had a romantic dinner on a clifftop and then after, we walked down to the beach. Spotlights were shining on the ocean and onto a heart I had drawn into the sand earlier with our initials in it. I led her to the spot, got down on one knee and proposed to the sound of the waves with a spotlight right on us,” Charriol recalled.
Teary eyed, Cohen, clearly moved by the memory, chimed in. “He’s shy, but he’s extremely romantic and sweet. I get flowers every week with a letter…he writes the most amazing letters…” she lovingly revealed.
The original plans involved a civil ceremony in Hong Kong last October 2018, followed by a bigger wedding celebration early this year. Alas, Charriol’s father and founder of the company, Philippe, tragically died in a racecar accident in the southeast of France on 27 February and,
“He’s shy, but he’s extremely romantic and sweet. I get flowers every week with a letter…he writes the most amazing letters…” — Katia Cohen
of course, shared Cohen, “Alex wasn’t in the frame of mind [to go on with it].”
Uplifting everyone’s spirits, the handsome couple were thrown an engagement party last 25 June, by the brideto-be’s parents on the terrace of their stunning Parisian residence, a penthouse (with a prime view of the Eiffel Tower) in the 16th Arrondisement in the Trocadéro. Interestingly, the soirée combined the highly entertaining elements of a live band and the antics of French mentalist (yes, someone who reads minds and does crazy things!), Burt Wayne.
Twirling the Dehres cushion-cut stunner around her finger, Cohen is still fl oating on cloud nine, in almost suspended disbelief at their fairy-tale romance. “Now I know why I kept the watch,” she mused, referring to a generous gift, a huge men’s watch, that the charming Philippe Charriol bestowed upon her during a lunch shared with her parents a decade ago in Saint-Tropez. “I’m the kind of person who would give away anything I didn’t wear. I moved four times from the day I met Alex’s father—but still I kept it.”
Seven years after that fateful lunch, both Charriol and Cohen found themselves in LA. It was here that all the dots connected and is, in fact, where the couple are still based. Cohen, in search of a venue for a party at the time, was passed Charriol’s number by a common friend who had suggested his guesthouse as the perfect place.
“I was at a restaurant when she called and I asked her to meet me right there and then,” shared Charriol with a mischievous grin. “Five minutes later,” added Cohen, laughing, “I show up in my leggings!”
“From there,” said Charriol, with a shrug. “I didn’t let her go.”