Celebrity Life

You know what they say – diamonds are forever. Here's everything new in jewellery that we're coveting for winter this year.

Chaumet: Taille Impératrice Cut Diamonds

High-jewellery house Chaumet has made a major breakthrough in diamond cutting, creating a new patented diamond cut called Taille Impératrice, featuring 88 facets for maximum brilliance and scintillation. The 88 facets are each individually shaped by hand, combining a hexagonal form with a star-shaped crown. The Taille Impératrice diamond cut makes an appearance in new jewellery pieces in the Bee My Love collection.

Philips: Flawless X Vivarium, New Modernism

Phillips Flawless’s online selling exhibition features 27 lots by 16 jewellery designers of the 20th and 21st centuries to celebrate the centenary of the Modernist Movement. There are exceptional pieces from Aldo Cipullo and Dinh Van, who designed for Cartier in the 1970s, as well as a beautiful brass-and-steel pin from the 1930s designed by Alexander Calder. New Modernism is a wonderful ode to the strong connection between jewel and art and paints a pretty picture of how abstract modernist designs makes for beautiful contemporary jewellery.

De Beers: The 1888 Master Diamonds

The 1888 Master Diamonds is De Beers’ latest offering of rare and exceptional loose diamonds, ranging from 5 to over 26 carats, which are sourced from its mines in Botswana and Canada. The diamond’s journey is extremely precious to De Beers, which showcases to its clients through images and videos the transformation of its 1888 Master Diamonds, from roughs through to the cutting and polishing stages.

Nalas x Kröller-Müller Museum

Jewellery brand Nalas has collaborated with the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands to launch an original art jewellery series called Shining Stars, inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s Trilogy of the Starry Nights’ Terrace of a Café at Night (Place du Forum), 1888, to be sold with its NFT at auction. The earrings, featuring more than 200 diamonds, was sold at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels: Part II in October.

The post Diamonds Are Forever: New in Jewellery this Winter 2021 appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

As Chaumet's CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt tells us, bringing the house's 240-year heritage into the modern era is an immense task that amounts to a "daily obsession". But if the new pieces in the Chaumet Joséphine collection are anything to go by, the Place Vendôme stalwart is heading in the right direction.

What kind of woman today does the Joséphine collection appeal to?

First, it’s about a woman with a certain character. Because when you choose to wear a tiara on your finger, you’re making a choice of distinction, a choice of character. You’re sending a message to say you’re not like everyone else and you have a certain strength and a certain personality. But also a sense of virtuosity, grace and beauty, because it’s not for women who want to be too provocative.

It’s a way to set your personality. And then of course, there are two major reasons to become a client of Joséphine. On one side, it remains one of the favourite pieces chosen for a bridal purpose. It’s connected to the initial history of Chaumet, the history of the power and love between Napoleon and Joséphine. And Napoleon is known everywhere, that’s incredible. There’s another type of client on the other side of the connection with the pearls, the coloured stones, something a bit easier and more accessible.

This year, Chaumet's creations have also incorporated sleeker, more modern takes on the tiara. Can you tell us a bit about the new high jewellery?

After many creations that were a bit more tiara-like, a bit more decorative, more visible, more baroque in a certain way, we wanted to enrich the collection with new ways to mix and match, and to go for designs that were slicker, with a more minimalist approach, because that’s also the style of today. We have a feeling that clients today are a little more understated, and we have the capacity to create beauty through a fine line, rather than an accumulation. So one of our high- jewellery pieces, which is sort of a V with a stone in suspension, doesn’t shout about its design. It’s all about balance.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Joséphine collection...

But we don’t mark it that way for two reasons. I always feel that if you start doing anniversaries for everything, then at the end, what’s the meaning in it? Last year, when we did the 240 years of Chaumet, that was slightly different. For Chaumet, our heritage is much longer than a decade, it’s about centuries. Instead, this year, we’re celebrating our connection with the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, which is significant in Europe and in France. We’ve done an exhibition at 12 Place Vendôme that was open to the public which tells the love story of Napoleon and Josephine through 150 different objects, beautiful loans from museums and private owners.

Which piece proved to be the most challenging piece in the collection?

The most discussed and the most debated one was the watch. Because we’re clearly a jeweller, and we’ve focused all our efforts and attention on jewellery. But since a few years ago, we’ve reassessed and repositioned what watches mean for Chaumet. It’s true that with the business of watches within Chaumet, we’ve really tried to be coherent with what the story of watchmaking for Chaumet is as a jeweller. One of our challenges was to look at the market – in the market, 90 percent of watches are round – and nobody’s waiting for Chaumet to create a round watch, because we already have thousands of beautiful options on the market.

We decided on a shaped watch, and it wasn’t very difficult to settle on the pear shape, like an illusion of a diamond. We also faceted the watch’s dial.

How do you balance 240 years of heritage behind a brand and stay relevant at the same time?

That’s really the obsession every single day. How do we continue the narrative, the link to the story? Since the pandemic, we’ve seen clients choose Chaumet because there’s longevity. And so it becomes a daily obsession of ours to convey this message to our clients through different means, including the digital approach, so we can speak to the needs of our audience today. We also go through the traditional channels and have books and exhibitions. I regularly write down on paper in two columns: on one side, how much do we tell the story of Chaumet, and on the other, how do we take a contemporary approach, either through the narrative or through using different tools? I take a step back and ask myself is there a balance? If we’re going too much in one direction, maybe it’s time to rebalance. It’s in everything we do.

The post Chaumet CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt on Balancing the Past and the Present appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Shop our selection of fine jewellery rings that anyone and everyone can incorporate into their everyday wardrobe.

Bvlgari B.Zero1 Rock

Inspired by the distinctive form of the Colosseum in Rome, Bvlgari's B.Zero1 Collection disrupted the industry at its unveiling in 1999. An ultimate symbol of self-expression, it remains a bestseller among women and men. The latest iteration, with a new studded core for a total rock 'n' roll vibe, is aptly named the B.Zero1 Rock Collection.

Chaumet Torsade de Chaumet

Who says men can’t wear high jewellery? The Torsade de Chaumet ring in white gold and diamonds are perfect complements to a black-tie look. Chaumet’s new Torsade (twist) collection is dynamic and refreshingly modern, capturing the essence of movement within its swirling silhouette.

Following the launch of the high jewellery collection, Chaumet took inspiration from it to create a solitaire ring (pictured on the right) that shows off the tight twist of diamonds in a more wearable fashion — it's perfect as an engagement ring, or just for anyone who's looking for that extra bling.

Chanel Coco Crush

Borrowed from equestrianism and popularised by the fashion world, the quilted motif is now immortalised in jewellery. The Chanel Coco Crush collection of rings in the house’s proprietary beige, yellow or white gold, and dusted with brilliant white diamonds, is a timeless addition to any wardrobe for any occasion.

Boucheron Holographique

Boucheron jewellery designer Claire Choisne has never doubted that men look as good in jewellery as women — case in point being the campaign photos for her latest Carte Blanche collection, where a male model fabulously flaunts the signet ring-like Illusion pieces featuring fabulous opals from Australia and Ethiopia (pictured above).

Boucheron has applied the same holographique technique to its main collections, including the Quatre ring, for a sensational new jewellery capsule. The ring is an absolute testament to Choisne's skills and the brand's avant-garde DNA: white gold, holographic ceramic and diamonds come together to truly stunning effect.

The post 4 Fine Jewellery Rings Designed to be Worn by Anyone and Everyone appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The latest from Bulgari, Chopard, Graff, and more.

The post 10 new jewellery collections to check out appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

The latest from Bulgari, Chopard, Graff, and more.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

Mother Nature has borne us two of the world's greatest treasures, one abundant yet fleeting, the other rare yet enduring — both eternally beautiful. Here, timeless high jewellery is showcased against ephemeral blooms in a study of our planet's most precious formations.

(Hero Image: ROUND DIAMOND NECKLACE (TOTALLING 89.18 CARATS) AND MULTISHAPE DIAMOND EARRINGS (TOTALLING 26.25 CARATS), BOTH SET IN WHITE GOLD GRAFF)

HIGH JEWELLERY PHOTOSHOOT

Photography Kauzrambler
Creative Direction Stephanie Ip
Styling Karen Siu
Photography Assistant Chu Mei Kwan
Flowers Flannel Flowers

The post 2021 High Jewellery: Earth’s Greatest Treasures appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

There’s no doubt Alex Lam inherited his musical talent from his parents, his father being Cantopop legend George Lam Chi-Cheung, and his mother, Sally Yeh. Still, the singer-songwriter and actor hasn’t let privilege get to his head — he’s not afraid to explore other paths, from a stint in Los Angeles to discover yoga and becoming a yoga teacher, to dipping his toes in fashion.

Lam met Hiro Yoshikawa, founder and designer of Washi Jeans, a Japanese denim brand, a couple years back and was intrigued by the designer’s backstory. Now based in Hong Kong, Yoshikawa is the 18^th generation of a revered sake maker in Okayama, Japan, and the first to leave the family business to pursue his own passion in denim-making. By chance, Yoshikawa had found an old document that charted out his family’s history, written on washi paper. Inspired by this, he developed and patented the Washi No. 6 paper yarn, which he utilizes in his first solo collection launching this month.

Lam, who has always had an eye for detail, quickly became an ambassador and muse for Yoshikawa, and took it upon himself to bring the recognition Yoshikawa deserves by helping him stage his upcoming solo debut.

We sit down with Alex Lam and Hiro Yoshikawa at Washi Jean's studio to talk about style and the upcoming debut of Yoshikawa's solo collection Life on Earth.

Can you describe your style? What are your wardrobe essentials?

AL: My style has always been inspired by musicians. I grew up watching some of my favourite bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and today, I'm inspired by singers like Drake. For me, my summer essentials include a sleeveless vest, a good multi-functional blazer and a pair of high-quality designer jeans.

Have you always been passionate about fashion and did you want to work in fashion?

AL: I have always cared about how I look and my outfits since I was a kid. I remember there was one time when the collar of my t-shirt wasn't right and I wouldn’t wear it out until my parents fixed it for me. Having friends who are in the fashion industry allows me to execute and experiment my ideas during workshops, like the ‘marshmallow’ colourway of the t-shirt I’m wearing right now. 

How did the both of you meet?

AL: I met Hiro-san thought some of our mutual friends.

HY: have been making jeans for other brands for the past 30 years and it has always been my dream to have my own denim brand. I have always hung out with people from the fashion industry, and meeting Alex from the music and acting world has made my life more fun and exciting.

Can you tell us a bit about your project with Hiro-san?

AL: I was hanging out with a group of producers and we often talk about fashion shows, designer brands’ videos, installation art and music. Once we found out Hiro-san wanted to launch his own denim brand this year, we decided to catch this opportunity and put our ideas together. We are organising a VIP launch event with a fashion show on June 11, 2021.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome with this project?

AL: I think the rules of the game changed after Covid started last year. We looked at online fashion shows last year, without the tradition styles, and we knew our team needed to do it in a cleverer way. The restriction for event gathering is 30 persons at the moment, so we were not able to invite too many friends and make the event as big as before. Plus the campaign and fashion show video shoot all in one day, that’s the biggest challenge in this project.

HY:  We have been staying in our studio almost every day is the past few months, meeting different parties like our PR team, models, videographers and producers.

What else are you up to this year that you can share with us?

AL: I have released a new song and I just finished a music video for another song. I have also been working on my YouTube channel and created a few series, but it’s been slightly slowed down because I was focusing in this project.

Has the pandemic affected the way you work or changed your priorities?

AL: Before Covid, I was busy working with clients, who often prepared everything. With changes and restrictions during this period, I am able to organise and create more content by myself.

What are you currently inspired by?

AL: There are many indie musicians and young kids out there who are doing their music in their unique styles. I admire them a lot as they can release songs as long as they think it sounds good. I used think good music requires the best studio and recording equipment, but turned out a lot of indie musicians are producing high quality songs just by working at home.

You have a YouTube channel, you're into fashion, music as well as classic cars. How did you get into each of those passions and how do you balance it all?

AL: Project by project. I’m now focusing more on quantity over quality and I'll keep learning from the progress and mistakes.

Do you have a motto you live by?

Stay healthy. As I was a yoga teacher, I still practice yoga for two to three hours each day. It’s a good way to reflect on myself and find peace.

The post Jewellery Trends: Bold, Geometric Designs appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Astounding gemstones and awe-inspiring craftsmanship notwithstanding, the story of heritage jewels is what make them the stuff of legends. Here are the tales of some of the most amazing heritage pieces and of their owners.

Jewellery pieces only truly come alive when they’re worn, and as they’re often inextricably connected to a particular owner, these precious objects are transformed and take on a persona of their own. When we admire heritage pieces from behind glass in museums or exhibitions, or perhaps placed on headless busts, their stories still resonate. One can almost hear the proclamations of a hopelessly smitten lover, or the chides of an insatiable woman, if not feel the unspeakable pain brought about by loss and tragedy. There exist many such storied relics, but here are a few that will surely compel you to explore more.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS: UN-ZIPPED

Perhaps unknown to many, Van Cleef & Arpels’ famous Zip necklace was conceived on the suggestion of the Duchess of Windsor, formerly the American socialite Wallis Simpson, a big client of the house whose controversial love story and eventual marriage to Prince Edward of Great Britain – who in 1936 abdicated to marry “the woman I love” – were the stuff of legend. So too was her jewellery collection. The couple was known to have shared an incredible passion for jewellery; story has it that the
Duke would spend hours with Van Cleef & Arpels’ designers to develop
and customise jewels for the Duchess.

In the 1930s, after the Duchess of Windsor had just purchased an Elsa Schiaparelli piece that was fastened, for the first time in haute couture, with a zipper – then relegated mainly to utilitarian wear – she encouraged, or perhaps challenged, Renée Puissant, then artistic director at Van Cleef & Arpels, to create the Zip necklace, a piece designed to be worn either open around the neck, or closed, gracing the wrist as a bracelet. Made from yellow gold and diamonds mounted in platinum, the Zip took more than a decade to make and was only completed in 1951. The Duchess is believed never actually to have owned a Zip necklace herself – pundits say the wait might have been a tad too long – but she remained a huge fan of the French house, having owned many of its pieces.

BULGARI: A LOVE SET IN STONE

It’s remiss not to include Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned emerald necklace and brooch suite by Bulgari when speaking about jewellery of incredible provenance. As the story goes, the actor Richard Burton fell in love with Taylor after filming the first scene of Cleopatra together – naturally – and the jewels just poured thereafter. Burton famously said, “the only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bulgari” and, unsurprisingly, Bulgari’s Via Condotti store was one of the couple’s favourite venues in Rome.

Burton gave Taylor the spectacular Bulgari necklace mounted with 16 step-cut octagonal Colombian emeralds of 60.50 carats, each surrounded by brilliant-cut and pear-shaped diamonds, and on their engagement he presented her with this 23.44-carat step-cut Colombian emerald brooch, which she wore on their wedding day in 1964. In 2011, Christie’s held a sale of Taylor’s private collection, which set records as the most valuable jewellery in auction history. From this sale and other private transactions, the brand re-acquired nine of its pieces – one of which is this brooch.

BOUCHERON: A QUESTION OF TASTE

The Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, a devoted client of Boucheron, is known to be the first owner of the Point d’Interrogation (or, as most of us know it, the Question Mark), an astounding emerald and diamond peacock-feather necklace. Designed by Frédéric Boucheron and the head of his workshop, Paul Legrand, the necklace was referred to, for obvious reasons, as the Question Mark: it was wrapped around the wearer’s neck without the need to be fastened.

Although this modern, asymmetrical piece formed part of the Boucheron collection that won the Gold Medal at the World’s Fair in 1889, the Grand Duke already had his eyes on it even before it was presented to the world, having seen it in a sketch in 1879. He bought it a few years later, in 1883.

CARTIER: EPIC PROPORTIONS

This extravagant necklace was made for Sir Bhupindra Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, in a special order that was placed in 1925 in Paris and completed three years later. The Maharaja brought a trove of his traditional Indian jewels to Cartier, instructing the house to modernise them. The result was a magnificent ceremonial necklace with, at its centre, the 234-carat De Beers yellow diamond, believed to be the seventh-largest diamond of all time and surrounded by another 2,900 diamonds.

In 1947, the necklace vanished and in 1998, Éric Nussbaum, the former director of the Cartier Collection, discovered it in a poor state. Its restoration took Cartier’s artisans more than two years, with zirconia, white topazes, synthetic rubies, smoky quartz and citrines replacing the original gems. Tremendous efforts went into restoring the platinum chain necklaces, specifically that of the pendant that held the De Beers diamond. The necklace, as it now appears in the Cartier Collection, was shown in public for the first time in 2002.

CHAUMET: PERFECT PARURE

In the early 1800s, Chaumet and its founder Marie-Étienne Nitot were appointed as Napoleon Bonaparte’s official jeweller. Nitot would go on to design Napoleon’s coronation crown, sword hilt and many precious gifts for his first wife, Empress Joséphine, who would be known as Chaumet’s “first great client”.

The royal court’s ties with Nitot would continue even after Napoleon’s second marriage to Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine of Austria, the grand-niece of Marie-Antoinette. They married at the Louvre Chapel in 1810, when the Empress Marie-Louise received as gifts two elaborate sets of jewels, each comprising a tiara, a necklace, a pair of earrings and a comb. With Nitot’s desire to preserve a copy of these ceremonial parures, he made replicas – and this tiara is one of them. It’s part of the replica of the ruby and diamond parure that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, which was made in gold, silver and set with white sapphires, zircons and garnets.

HARRY WINSTON: FATEFUL BEAUTY

As stunning and jaw-dropping though this 45.52-carat intense dark-blue Hope Diamond is, tragedy has befallen anyone who came to its possession. Smuggled out of India in 1642 and sold to Louis XIV 26 years later – when it was called the French Blue – it was worn once by the king, who died shortly thereafter. It then went to Louis XV, who never wore it but lent it to his mistress, Countess DuBarry, who was beheaded in the French Revolution (Marie Antoinette, who shared the same fate at the guillotine, was also believed to have worn it often).

The diamond then appeared in the collection of Henry Philip Hope, the stone’s namesake, in 1824, who had it set on a brooch and sometimes lent it to Louisa Beresford, wife of his brother Henry Thomas Hope, when she hosted society balls. Henry Philip Hope died in 1839 and his three heirs fought in court for a decade until his nephew Henry Hope acquired the gems, including the Hope Diamond. It was showcased in the Great Exhibition of London in 1851 and the Paris Exhibition of 1855, but was usually kept in a bank vault.

By the early 1900s, the Hope changed hands once more and was cut, re-cut and re-set time and again, with tragedy never far from it. It was owned by Evalyn Walsh MacLean, whose husband was implicated in the Teapot Dome government scandal and whose son was killed in a motor accident. Harry Winston acquired the Hope in 1949, and 10 years later donated the gem to the Smithsonian, where it resides to this day.

The post Incredible Stories of 6 Heritage Jewels You Might Not Know About appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Astounding gemstones and awe-inspiring craftsmanship notwithstanding, the story of heritage jewels is what make them the stuff of legends. Here are the tales of some of the most amazing heritage pieces and of their owners.

Jewellery pieces only truly come alive when they’re worn, and as they’re often inextricably connected to a particular owner, these precious objects are transformed and take on a persona of their own. When we admire heritage pieces from behind glass in museums or exhibitions, or perhaps placed on headless busts, their stories still resonate. One can almost hear the proclamations of a hopelessly smitten lover, or the chides of an insatiable woman, if not feel the unspeakable pain brought about by loss and tragedy. There exist many such storied relics, but here are a few that will surely compel you to explore more.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS: UN-ZIPPED

Perhaps unknown to many, Van Cleef & Arpels’ famous Zip necklace was conceived on the suggestion of the Duchess of Windsor, formerly the American socialite Wallis Simpson, a big client of the house whose controversial love story and eventual marriage to Prince Edward of Great Britain – who in 1936 abdicated to marry “the woman I love” – were the stuff of legend. So too was her jewellery collection. The couple was known to have shared an incredible passion for jewellery; story has it that the
Duke would spend hours with Van Cleef & Arpels’ designers to develop
and customise jewels for the Duchess.

In the 1930s, after the Duchess of Windsor had just purchased an Elsa Schiaparelli piece that was fastened, for the first time in haute couture, with a zipper – then relegated mainly to utilitarian wear – she encouraged, or perhaps challenged, Renée Puissant, then artistic director at Van Cleef & Arpels, to create the Zip necklace, a piece designed to be worn either open around the neck, or closed, gracing the wrist as a bracelet. Made from yellow gold and diamonds mounted in platinum, the Zip took more than a decade to make and was only completed in 1951. The Duchess is believed never actually to have owned a Zip necklace herself – pundits say the wait might have been a tad too long – but she remained a huge fan of the French house, having owned many of its pieces.

BULGARI: A LOVE SET IN STONE

It’s remiss not to include Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned emerald necklace and brooch suite by Bulgari when speaking about jewellery of incredible provenance. As the story goes, the actor Richard Burton fell in love with Taylor after filming the first scene of Cleopatra together – naturally – and the jewels just poured thereafter. Burton famously said, “the only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bulgari” and, unsurprisingly, Bulgari’s Via Condotti store was one of the couple’s favourite venues in Rome.

Burton gave Taylor the spectacular Bulgari necklace mounted with 16 step-cut octagonal Colombian emeralds of 60.50 carats, each surrounded by brilliant-cut and pear-shaped diamonds, and on their engagement he presented her with this 23.44-carat step-cut Colombian emerald brooch, which she wore on their wedding day in 1964. In 2011, Christie’s held a sale of Taylor’s private collection, which set records as the most valuable jewellery in auction history. From this sale and other private transactions, the brand re-acquired nine of its pieces – one of which is this brooch.

BOUCHERON: A QUESTION OF TASTE

The Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, a devoted client of Boucheron, is known to be the first owner of the Point d’Interrogation (or, as most of us know it, the Question Mark), an astounding emerald and diamond peacock-feather necklace. Designed by Frédéric Boucheron and the head of his workshop, Paul Legrand, the necklace was referred to, for obvious reasons, as the Question Mark: it was wrapped around the wearer’s neck without the need to be fastened.

Although this modern, asymmetrical piece formed part of the Boucheron collection that won the Gold Medal at the World’s Fair in 1889, the Grand Duke already had his eyes on it even before it was presented to the world, having seen it in a sketch in 1879. He bought it a few years later, in 1883.

CARTIER: EPIC PROPORTIONS

This extravagant necklace was made for Sir Bhupindra Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, in a special order that was placed in 1925 in Paris and completed three years later. The Maharaja brought a trove of his traditional Indian jewels to Cartier, instructing the house to modernise them. The result was a magnificent ceremonial necklace with, at its centre, the 234-carat De Beers yellow diamond, believed to be the seventh-largest diamond of all time and surrounded by another 2,900 diamonds.

In 1947, the necklace vanished and in 1998, Éric Nussbaum, the former director of the Cartier Collection, discovered it in a poor state. Its restoration took Cartier’s artisans more than two years, with zirconia, white topazes, synthetic rubies, smoky quartz and citrines replacing the original gems. Tremendous efforts went into restoring the platinum chain necklaces, specifically that of the pendant that held the De Beers diamond. The necklace, as it now appears in the Cartier Collection, was shown in public for the first time in 2002.

CHAUMET: PERFECT PARURE

In the early 1800s, Chaumet and its founder Marie-Étienne Nitot were appointed as Napoleon Bonaparte’s official jeweller. Nitot would go on to design Napoleon’s coronation crown, sword hilt and many precious gifts for his first wife, Empress Joséphine, who would be known as Chaumet’s “first great client”.

The royal court’s ties with Nitot would continue even after Napoleon’s second marriage to Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine of Austria, the grand-niece of Marie-Antoinette. They married at the Louvre Chapel in 1810, when the Empress Marie-Louise received as gifts two elaborate sets of jewels, each comprising a tiara, a necklace, a pair of earrings and a comb. With Nitot’s desire to preserve a copy of these ceremonial parures, he made replicas – and this tiara is one of them. It’s part of the replica of the ruby and diamond parure that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, which was made in gold, silver and set with white sapphires, zircons and garnets.

HARRY WINSTON: FATEFUL BEAUTY

As stunning and jaw-dropping though this 45.52-carat intense dark-blue Hope Diamond is, tragedy has befallen anyone who came to its possession. Smuggled out of India in 1642 and sold to Louis XIV 26 years later – when it was called the French Blue – it was worn once by the king, who died shortly thereafter. It then went to Louis XV, who never wore it but lent it to his mistress, Countess DuBarry, who was beheaded in the French Revolution (Marie Antoinette, who shared the same fate at the guillotine, was also believed to have worn it often).

The diamond then appeared in the collection of Henry Philip Hope, the stone’s namesake, in 1824, who had it set on a brooch and sometimes lent it to Louisa Beresford, wife of his brother Henry Thomas Hope, when she hosted society balls. Henry Philip Hope died in 1839 and his three heirs fought in court for a decade until his nephew Henry Hope acquired the gems, including the Hope Diamond. It was showcased in the Great Exhibition of London in 1851 and the Paris Exhibition of 1855, but was usually kept in a bank vault.

By the early 1900s, the Hope changed hands once more and was cut, re-cut and re-set time and again, with tragedy never far from it. It was owned by Evalyn Walsh MacLean, whose husband was implicated in the Teapot Dome government scandal and whose son was killed in a motor accident. Harry Winston acquired the Hope in 1949, and 10 years later donated the gem to the Smithsonian, where it resides to this day.

The post Incredible Stories of 6 Heritage Jewels You Might Not Know About appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Astounding gemstones and awe-inspiring craftsmanship notwithstanding, the story of heritage jewels is what make them the stuff of legends. Here are the tales of some of the most amazing heritage pieces and of their owners.

Jewellery pieces only truly come alive when they’re worn, and as they’re often inextricably connected to a particular owner, these precious objects are transformed and take on a persona of their own. When we admire heritage pieces from behind glass in museums or exhibitions, or perhaps placed on headless busts, their stories still resonate. One can almost hear the proclamations of a hopelessly smitten lover, or the chides of an insatiable woman, if not feel the unspeakable pain brought about by loss and tragedy. There exist many such storied relics, but here are a few that will surely compel you to explore more.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS: UN-ZIPPED

Perhaps unknown to many, Van Cleef & Arpels’ famous Zip necklace was conceived on the suggestion of the Duchess of Windsor, formerly the American socialite Wallis Simpson, a big client of the house whose controversial love story and eventual marriage to Prince Edward of Great Britain – who in 1936 abdicated to marry “the woman I love” – were the stuff of legend. So too was her jewellery collection. The couple was known to have shared an incredible passion for jewellery; story has it that the
Duke would spend hours with Van Cleef & Arpels’ designers to develop
and customise jewels for the Duchess.

In the 1930s, after the Duchess of Windsor had just purchased an Elsa Schiaparelli piece that was fastened, for the first time in haute couture, with a zipper – then relegated mainly to utilitarian wear – she encouraged, or perhaps challenged, Renée Puissant, then artistic director at Van Cleef & Arpels, to create the Zip necklace, a piece designed to be worn either open around the neck, or closed, gracing the wrist as a bracelet. Made from yellow gold and diamonds mounted in platinum, the Zip took more than a decade to make and was only completed in 1951. The Duchess is believed never actually to have owned a Zip necklace herself – pundits say the wait might have been a tad too long – but she remained a huge fan of the French house, having owned many of its pieces.

BULGARI: A LOVE SET IN STONE

It’s remiss not to include Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned emerald necklace and brooch suite by Bulgari when speaking about jewellery of incredible provenance. As the story goes, the actor Richard Burton fell in love with Taylor after filming the first scene of Cleopatra together – naturally – and the jewels just poured thereafter. Burton famously said, “the only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bulgari” and, unsurprisingly, Bulgari’s Via Condotti store was one of the couple’s favourite venues in Rome.

Burton gave Taylor the spectacular Bulgari necklace mounted with 16 step-cut octagonal Colombian emeralds of 60.50 carats, each surrounded by brilliant-cut and pear-shaped diamonds, and on their engagement he presented her with this 23.44-carat step-cut Colombian emerald brooch, which she wore on their wedding day in 1964. In 2011, Christie’s held a sale of Taylor’s private collection, which set records as the most valuable jewellery in auction history. From this sale and other private transactions, the brand re-acquired nine of its pieces – one of which is this brooch.

BOUCHERON: A QUESTION OF TASTE

The Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, a devoted client of Boucheron, is known to be the first owner of the Point d’Interrogation (or, as most of us know it, the Question Mark), an astounding emerald and diamond peacock-feather necklace. Designed by Frédéric Boucheron and the head of his workshop, Paul Legrand, the necklace was referred to, for obvious reasons, as the Question Mark: it was wrapped around the wearer’s neck without the need to be fastened.

Although this modern, asymmetrical piece formed part of the Boucheron collection that won the Gold Medal at the World’s Fair in 1889, the Grand Duke already had his eyes on it even before it was presented to the world, having seen it in a sketch in 1879. He bought it a few years later, in 1883.

CARTIER: EPIC PROPORTIONS

This extravagant necklace was made for Sir Bhupindra Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, in a special order that was placed in 1925 in Paris and completed three years later. The Maharaja brought a trove of his traditional Indian jewels to Cartier, instructing the house to modernise them. The result was a magnificent ceremonial necklace with, at its centre, the 234-carat De Beers yellow diamond, believed to be the seventh-largest diamond of all time and surrounded by another 2,900 diamonds.

In 1947, the necklace vanished and in 1998, Éric Nussbaum, the former director of the Cartier Collection, discovered it in a poor state. Its restoration took Cartier’s artisans more than two years, with zirconia, white topazes, synthetic rubies, smoky quartz and citrines replacing the original gems. Tremendous efforts went into restoring the platinum chain necklaces, specifically that of the pendant that held the De Beers diamond. The necklace, as it now appears in the Cartier Collection, was shown in public for the first time in 2002.

CHAUMET: PERFECT PARURE

In the early 1800s, Chaumet and its founder Marie-Étienne Nitot were appointed as Napoleon Bonaparte’s official jeweller. Nitot would go on to design Napoleon’s coronation crown, sword hilt and many precious gifts for his first wife, Empress Joséphine, who would be known as Chaumet’s “first great client”.

The royal court’s ties with Nitot would continue even after Napoleon’s second marriage to Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine of Austria, the grand-niece of Marie-Antoinette. They married at the Louvre Chapel in 1810, when the Empress Marie-Louise received as gifts two elaborate sets of jewels, each comprising a tiara, a necklace, a pair of earrings and a comb. With Nitot’s desire to preserve a copy of these ceremonial parures, he made replicas – and this tiara is one of them. It’s part of the replica of the ruby and diamond parure that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, which was made in gold, silver and set with white sapphires, zircons and garnets.

HARRY WINSTON: FATEFUL BEAUTY

As stunning and jaw-dropping though this 45.52-carat intense dark-blue Hope Diamond is, tragedy has befallen anyone who came to its possession. Smuggled out of India in 1642 and sold to Louis XIV 26 years later – when it was called the French Blue – it was worn once by the king, who died shortly thereafter. It then went to Louis XV, who never wore it but lent it to his mistress, Countess DuBarry, who was beheaded in the French Revolution (Marie Antoinette, who shared the same fate at the guillotine, was also believed to have worn it often).

The diamond then appeared in the collection of Henry Philip Hope, the stone’s namesake, in 1824, who had it set on a brooch and sometimes lent it to Louisa Beresford, wife of his brother Henry Thomas Hope, when she hosted society balls. Henry Philip Hope died in 1839 and his three heirs fought in court for a decade until his nephew Henry Hope acquired the gems, including the Hope Diamond. It was showcased in the Great Exhibition of London in 1851 and the Paris Exhibition of 1855, but was usually kept in a bank vault.

By the early 1900s, the Hope changed hands once more and was cut, re-cut and re-set time and again, with tragedy never far from it. It was owned by Evalyn Walsh MacLean, whose husband was implicated in the Teapot Dome government scandal and whose son was killed in a motor accident. Harry Winston acquired the Hope in 1949, and 10 years later donated the gem to the Smithsonian, where it resides to this day.

The post Incredible Stories of 6 Heritage Jewels You Might Not Know About appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Astounding gemstones and awe-inspiring craftsmanship notwithstanding, the story of heritage jewels is what make them the stuff of legends. Here are the tales of some of the most amazing heritage pieces and of their owners.

Jewellery pieces only truly come alive when they’re worn, and as they’re often inextricably connected to a particular owner, these precious objects are transformed and take on a persona of their own. When we admire heritage pieces from behind glass in museums or exhibitions, or perhaps placed on headless busts, their stories still resonate. One can almost hear the proclamations of a hopelessly smitten lover, or the chides of an insatiable woman, if not feel the unspeakable pain brought about by loss and tragedy. There exist many such storied relics, but here are a few that will surely compel you to explore more.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS: UN-ZIPPED

Perhaps unknown to many, Van Cleef & Arpels’ famous Zip necklace was conceived on the suggestion of the Duchess of Windsor, formerly the American socialite Wallis Simpson, a big client of the house whose controversial love story and eventual marriage to Prince Edward of Great Britain – who in 1936 abdicated to marry “the woman I love” – were the stuff of legend. So too was her jewellery collection. The couple was known to have shared an incredible passion for jewellery; story has it that the
Duke would spend hours with Van Cleef & Arpels’ designers to develop
and customise jewels for the Duchess.

In the 1930s, after the Duchess of Windsor had just purchased an Elsa Schiaparelli piece that was fastened, for the first time in haute couture, with a zipper – then relegated mainly to utilitarian wear – she encouraged, or perhaps challenged, Renée Puissant, then artistic director at Van Cleef & Arpels, to create the Zip necklace, a piece designed to be worn either open around the neck, or closed, gracing the wrist as a bracelet. Made from yellow gold and diamonds mounted in platinum, the Zip took more than a decade to make and was only completed in 1951. The Duchess is believed never actually to have owned a Zip necklace herself – pundits say the wait might have been a tad too long – but she remained a huge fan of the French house, having owned many of its pieces.

BULGARI: A LOVE SET IN STONE

It’s remiss not to include Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned emerald necklace and brooch suite by Bulgari when speaking about jewellery of incredible provenance. As the story goes, the actor Richard Burton fell in love with Taylor after filming the first scene of Cleopatra together – naturally – and the jewels just poured thereafter. Burton famously said, “the only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bulgari” and, unsurprisingly, Bulgari’s Via Condotti store was one of the couple’s favourite venues in Rome.

Burton gave Taylor the spectacular Bulgari necklace mounted with 16 step-cut octagonal Colombian emeralds of 60.50 carats, each surrounded by brilliant-cut and pear-shaped diamonds, and on their engagement he presented her with this 23.44-carat step-cut Colombian emerald brooch, which she wore on their wedding day in 1964. In 2011, Christie’s held a sale of Taylor’s private collection, which set records as the most valuable jewellery in auction history. From this sale and other private transactions, the brand re-acquired nine of its pieces – one of which is this brooch.

BOUCHERON: A QUESTION OF TASTE

The Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, a devoted client of Boucheron, is known to be the first owner of the Point d’Interrogation (or, as most of us know it, the Question Mark), an astounding emerald and diamond peacock-feather necklace. Designed by Frédéric Boucheron and the head of his workshop, Paul Legrand, the necklace was referred to, for obvious reasons, as the Question Mark: it was wrapped around the wearer’s neck without the need to be fastened.

Although this modern, asymmetrical piece formed part of the Boucheron collection that won the Gold Medal at the World’s Fair in 1889, the Grand Duke already had his eyes on it even before it was presented to the world, having seen it in a sketch in 1879. He bought it a few years later, in 1883.

CARTIER: EPIC PROPORTIONS

This extravagant necklace was made for Sir Bhupindra Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, in a special order that was placed in 1925 in Paris and completed three years later. The Maharaja brought a trove of his traditional Indian jewels to Cartier, instructing the house to modernise them. The result was a magnificent ceremonial necklace with, at its centre, the 234-carat De Beers yellow diamond, believed to be the seventh-largest diamond of all time and surrounded by another 2,900 diamonds.

In 1947, the necklace vanished and in 1998, Éric Nussbaum, the former director of the Cartier Collection, discovered it in a poor state. Its restoration took Cartier’s artisans more than two years, with zirconia, white topazes, synthetic rubies, smoky quartz and citrines replacing the original gems. Tremendous efforts went into restoring the platinum chain necklaces, specifically that of the pendant that held the De Beers diamond. The necklace, as it now appears in the Cartier Collection, was shown in public for the first time in 2002.

CHAUMET: PERFECT PARURE

In the early 1800s, Chaumet and its founder Marie-Étienne Nitot were appointed as Napoleon Bonaparte’s official jeweller. Nitot would go on to design Napoleon’s coronation crown, sword hilt and many precious gifts for his first wife, Empress Joséphine, who would be known as Chaumet’s “first great client”.

The royal court’s ties with Nitot would continue even after Napoleon’s second marriage to Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine of Austria, the grand-niece of Marie-Antoinette. They married at the Louvre Chapel in 1810, when the Empress Marie-Louise received as gifts two elaborate sets of jewels, each comprising a tiara, a necklace, a pair of earrings and a comb. With Nitot’s desire to preserve a copy of these ceremonial parures, he made replicas – and this tiara is one of them. It’s part of the replica of the ruby and diamond parure that belonged to Empress Marie-Louise, which was made in gold, silver and set with white sapphires, zircons and garnets.

HARRY WINSTON: FATEFUL BEAUTY

As stunning and jaw-dropping though this 45.52-carat intense dark-blue Hope Diamond is, tragedy has befallen anyone who came to its possession. Smuggled out of India in 1642 and sold to Louis XIV 26 years later – when it was called the French Blue – it was worn once by the king, who died shortly thereafter. It then went to Louis XV, who never wore it but lent it to his mistress, Countess DuBarry, who was beheaded in the French Revolution (Marie Antoinette, who shared the same fate at the guillotine, was also believed to have worn it often).

The diamond then appeared in the collection of Henry Philip Hope, the stone’s namesake, in 1824, who had it set on a brooch and sometimes lent it to Louisa Beresford, wife of his brother Henry Thomas Hope, when she hosted society balls. Henry Philip Hope died in 1839 and his three heirs fought in court for a decade until his nephew Henry Hope acquired the gems, including the Hope Diamond. It was showcased in the Great Exhibition of London in 1851 and the Paris Exhibition of 1855, but was usually kept in a bank vault.

By the early 1900s, the Hope changed hands once more and was cut, re-cut and re-set time and again, with tragedy never far from it. It was owned by Evalyn Walsh MacLean, whose husband was implicated in the Teapot Dome government scandal and whose son was killed in a motor accident. Harry Winston acquired the Hope in 1949, and 10 years later donated the gem to the Smithsonian, where it resides to this day.

The post Incredible Stories of 6 Heritage Jewels You Might Not Know About appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

New pieces from Chaumet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and more.

The post The latest and most talked-about jewellery collections appeared first on The Peak Magazine.