September 2020: What's New In Jewellery
1/7 Chopard
Chopard and the Cannes Film Festival have been linked since 1998, and Chopard first unveiled its Red Carpet high jewellery collection of 60 designs there in 2007. This year, the maison has released 73 high jewels to connote the number of years that the film festival has been held. Inspired by nature, animals in whitewashed winter colours are brought to life with brilliant-cut pavé diamonds, cabochon-cut sapphires and plenty of onyx. We particularly love the bejewelled owl watch in white gold, which is set with multicoloured sapphires and diamonds.
See also: How Jewelmer Transforms Philippine Golden South Sea Pearls Into Beautiful Pieces Of Jewellery
2/7 Annoushka
Inspired by her own whimsical garden in West Sussex, England, Annoushka Ducas's new Garden Party collection features tiered earrings and bracelets that are anchored with diamonds instead of plant pots. There’s a trendy Seventies feel to this playful collection. Textured bars of yellow gold that are unexpectedly coated with black rhodium add extra depth.
3/7 Lydia Courteille
Inspired by the Silk Road, Parisian-born gemmologist and antique jewellery expert Lydia Courteille has unveiled her latest high jewellery collection: Caravan. Her folksy creations map the route starting from Turkey and on through civilisations including Little Armenia, Mesopotamia and Samarkand. The sculptural collection includes 13 rings, six earrings, four necklaces and two bracelets.
4/7 Van Cleef & Arpels
Caught in a variety of dance poses, Van Cleef & Arpels’ breathtaking ballerina clips were first designed in the early 1940s. A 1941 brooch depicts a playful Spanish dancer with a fan, while another made in 1942 was inspired by an 18th-century French dancer, Marie Anne de Capuis de Camargo, who was famous for shortening her skirt to calf length. Rendered in gold and set with sparkling gemstones, each clip bursts with personality. Which one would you wear?
5/7 Boucheron
Boucheron's creative director Claire Choisne has outdone herself once again. The brand’s new high jewellery collection, Contemplation, has been in development since Choisne visited Naoshima, an island town filled with conceptual artworks in Japan, three years ago. James Turrell’s Open Sky at the Chichu Art Museum there invites viewers to gaze at the changing atmosphere as seen through a large hole in the ceiling, which gave Choisne a calming feeling that she wanted to transfer into jewellery. A pared-back palette of white, greys and blues defines this collection of 67 pieces, as does its weightlessness. Spray-painted mother-of-pearl, sparkling moonstones and elongated aquamarines add to Contemplation’s unearthly feel.
See also: 10 Gorgeous Instagram Accounts Dedicated To High Jewellery
6/7 Christie's
With sales postponed and auction houses closed, auctioneers are moving jewellery sales online. And Christie’s has subsequently announced that it has auctioned off the most expensive jewel ever sold virtually. Set on a platinum band, the 28.86-carat diamond broke the world record at US$2.1 million.
7/7 Cindy Chao
Despite the pandemic, Cindy Chao has already had a busy year. She participated in TEFAF Maastricht, the last international live art fair held this year, and in January, Tatler Asia reported that her first Butterfly brooch was inducted into the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD) in Paris, as part of its permanent collection. Now, Chao has unveiled her 2020 high jewellery collection of one-of-a-kind pieces that are, quite simply, exceptional. We particularly love her “Reflection Bangle”, which is inspired by Chinese landscape paintings.