This year’s haute, shining stars
Feast your eyes on the diverse high jewellery creations from luxury brands
EVERY YEAR, THE LAUNCHING OF high jewellery collections from top industry names are eagerly anticipated affairs. The pieces are scrutinised for their creativity, admired for their technical mastery and savoured for their carefully chosen gemstones.
Whether they are breaking new ground, borrowing from house codes or experimenting with new materials, there is always something exciting to discover with these big reveals.
It’s hard to pick a favourite, so we’re bringing you some delectable highlights instead.
Bvlgari
It’s the luxury Italian jeweller’s 140th anniversary this year, so it’s no surprise that the occasion would be marked by some very special baubles. But perhaps what we didn’t expect is just how exceptional this high jewellery collection would be.
Dubbed Aeterna (meaning eternal), the jewels are a feast of colour, dramatic shapes, fluid forms and superlative stones. In developing the collection, the Roman jeweller tapped into its legacy but also weaved in a contemporary aesthetic, all the while showing complete mastery over the jewellery-making craft.
It’s no wonder Jean-Christophe Babin, Bvlgari’s group chief executive officer, called it “the most extraordinary high-end collection ever”. It is indeed magnificent, leaving us to wonder how the legendary Italian jeweller will top this next year.
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Tiffany
Tiffany & Co.’s latest high jewellery collection was unveiled in its Blue Book 2024: Tiffany Celeste. If the design codes look familiar, that’s because they have been drawn exclusively from legendary designer Jean Schlumberger’s repertoire of creations. Last year, the focus was on his fantastical vision of the aquatic world. This time round, it is his surrealist vision of the cosmos that is being reimagined.
From the sun, moon and stars to distant galaxies, this otherworldly collection explores the mysteries of the universe in gloriously theatrical, organic forms. Brooches are a burst of gilded sun rays, a Pegasus-inspired necklace wraps around the neck like the wings of a mythical creature in flight, and stars dance from rings and earrings alike.
Majestic, chimeric and absolutely covetable, these are just the first of a three-part launch of the collection. We can’t wait to see the rest.
Chanel
Trust Chanel to convey the spirit of its founder, Gabrielle Chanel, in daring to do something so very different – conceive an entire high jewellery collection in honour of the sporty style.
Unexpected elements abound in Haute Joaillerie Sport, which explores Mademoiselle Chanel’s affection for sporting aesthetics by reinterpreting sportswear and sport-related paraphernalia. Who would have thought that chevrons would be the key motif in a necklace that is the star of the collection? Or that drawstrings and snap hooks will be elevated to bejewelled status?
Well, the highly inventive House of Chanel, of course.
Now, what will they think of next?
Louis Vuitton
The 19th century was a transformative time for France, when it experienced an explosion of savoir faire and creativity. During the same period, luxury powerhouse Louis Vuitton was born, thereby making this an epochal time.
Fast forward to 2024 and the maison is recalling this particularly flourishing era in French history with its Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds high jewellery collection. In its first chapter, masterpieces showcase rich and elaborate jewellery-making techniques and groundbreaking designs, all of which are brought to life with a cast of rare stones.
Then as France turned to industrialisation, freedom and exploration are represented in stylised interpretations of mechanisation and graphic repetitions. All this culminates in 1889 with the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower – a Parisian marvel and beacon of modernity – whose spirit Louis Vuitton captures in the very elegant Coeur de Paris necklace, where an incredible, pink-hued 56.23-carat diamond hangs like a medallion.
Throughout, the insertion of Louis Vuitton’s key codes and signatures doesn’t hurt, either.
Gucci
Over at Gucci, it is the journey through a flourishing Italian garden that its Labirinti Gucci high jewellery collection celebrates. Three themes – symmetry and ordered beauty, geometric splendour and blooming nature – are examined.
Just like an amble through garden paths and labyrinths, the pieces combine harmonious shapes with maze motifs, while gemstones in a light, sunny palette take centrestage.
The maison has chosen to keep its G logo discreet, so it is subtly evoked in linear shapes. Meanwhile, a new animal motif – the dragonfly – is introduced in bejewelled brooches and a pair of asymmetrical earrings.
All in, this is a bright, optimistic collection that one would be more than happy to get lost in.
Dior
As it turns out, the garden is also a theme explored at Dior, except it is a lush, dreamy one filled with trees, flowers and shrubs.
Named Diorama & Diorigami, the high jewellery collection is dedicated to the two most important inspirations of the maison – couture and nature.
While Diorama is an interpretation of the iconic Toile de Jouy print and brings the enchanted landscapes of Milly-la-Foret to life, Diorigami is a more graphic take on nature, inspired by the Japanese paper-folding art of origami.
Across necklaces, earrings and rings, enchanting tableaus flourish with pretty flora and fauna. Look carefully and you will discover bejewelled rabbits, foxes and birds, while deer crafted using the ancient technique of glyptics (sculpturing on precious stones), can be found resting or darting about in dense thickets.
This is a gorgeous collection perfect for nature – and couture – lovers.
Cartier
At Cartier, it is a cast of creatures captured in a fleeting moment that absolutely steals the show in its Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection.
Expressive, figurative and abstract, these bejewelled animals break free from their natural environment to play hide-and-seek, appearing where you least expect them. A turtle is concealed in a necklace, but escapes to become a brooch with an imposing 71.9-carat rubellite in its mouth. A panther in a hybrid ring-bracelet stretches its lithe body; a paw on a ring, ready to pounce at any moment.
This is a sumptuous collection that truly showcases the French luxury jeweller’s famed and much-admired savoir faire.
Boucheron
Meanwhile, Iceland’s rugged landscapes of coasts and cliffs, together with waves, sea foam and waterfalls, are the inspirations for another French luxury jeweller, Boucheron.
Its latest Carte Blanche 2024 High Jewellery Collection, Or Bleu, pushes creative boundaries with jewellery based on the naturalistic features of water. Like snapshots of nature, the liquid is captured in its rawest state – as a long cascade of diamonds coursing down the front of the body, or rippling across the decolletage. Iceland’s inky-black water is also translated into fluid, sculptural forms that appear in a cuff bracelet and ring, while its icebergs are conceived as an ethereal necklace and earrings.
Pure, artistic and imaginative, this is a prime example of what carte blanche gets you when there is utter freedom in designing jewellery.
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