Celebrity Life

The incredible history of Van Cleef & Arpels is intertwined with some of the world’s most prominent and illustrious women of their time, as Allyson Klass finds out.

In 1895, Estelle Arpels, the daughter of a gems dealer, married Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a lapidary craftsman and diamond broker. The pair shared the same values of a sense of family, the spirit of innovation and a passion for precious stones. This would mark the beginning of their bejewelled destiny as it led to the birth of a maison in 1906 bearing both their names – Van Cleef & Arpels – at 22 Place Vendôme. The boutique still remains at this legendary address until today.

The business included Estelle’s brothers, Charles, Julien and Louis, all experienced gem traders. With the maison’s location across from the swanky Hotel Ritz, which boasted a well-heeled clientele ranging from aristocrats to business magnates from Europe and the US, word about the house’s exquisite jewels travelled beyond the continent quickly. Soon, leading women the world over were captivated. From the elegant 1920s through to the Jet Set era of the early ’70s, Van Cleef & Arpels won some of the most legendary names as patrons, and forever immortalised their individual styles into history’s most epic pieces – some of which the jeweller has continued to recreate over the years. Here are four ladies who shaped the world of high jewellery through Van Cleef & Arpels.

HSH Princess Grace of Monaco

In 1956, American actress Grace Kelly was named the Princess of Monaco when she married Prince Rainier III. To celebrate their union, the prince visited the Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in New York and met with Louis Arpels, who convinced him that elegant pearls were befitting of his fiancee’s beauty. The exquisite suite chosen included a resplendent three-strand pearl necklace with diamond swirl motifs, three-strand pearl bracelet with diamond blossom motifs, pearl earrings featuring a swirl of baguette and marquise-shaped diamonds, and a diamond blossom ring with a pearl. A few months later, the jeweller was named the Patented supplier of the Principality of Monaco. The princess would be seen wearing this royal pearl parure on numerous occasions throughout her life.

A client of Van Cleef & Arpels before her engagement, Princess Grace enriched her collection over the years with the maison’s high jewellery pieces, which included bracelets, tiaras and clips. For casual occasions, she also loved wearing the house’s creations such as adorable animal clips from the La Boutique collection and Alhambra necklaces that she collected in various precious materials of coral, malachite and lapis lazuli.

Princess Faiza of Egypt

Born in Abdine Palace on Nov 8, 1923, Princess Faiza of Egypt was regarded as the most attractive of King Farouk’s five sisters. The lively, witty and rebellious royal was known for her fabulous taste in clothes and jewellery, favouring Parisian haute couture and joaillerie. Needless to say, Van Cleef & Arpels was her maison of choice when it came to jewellery.

Princess Faiza owned a number of noteworthy pieces created by the house, one of the most magnificent being a platinum Art Deco collaret featuring 10 drop-shaped Colombian emeralds – totalling 165 carats – set with diamonds in varying shapes and sizes. Designed in 1929 and modified in 1937, it was acquired for her in 1947 by an Egyptian court’s representative in France. The striking showpiece was worn by the fashion-forward princess as a court jewel and remained her property when she went into exile in Europe with her husband after the Egyptian revolution in 1952. Following her divorce, the princess took the necklace with her when she moved to California, where her mother Queen Nazli and sister Princess Fathia lived.

Another famous Van Cleef & Arpels piece that belonged to the princess is the double Clip Pivoine from 1938. It featured two peonies set in the famous Serti Mysterieux or Mystery Setting, which was inspired by the 19th-century Roman micro-mosaic technique. Patented in 1933 by Van Cleef & Arpels, the method revolutionised the art of setting precious stones as it enabled the gems to be fixed without the mount being visible, allowing the stones’ optimum brilliance to come through. The flower petals are set with 706 square-cut red rubies and 239 circular-cut and baguette-cut diamonds. Princess Faiza sold both brooches separately a few years before her death in 1994. While one of them is now in the Van Cleef & Arpels archives, the whereabouts of the second piece is unknown.

Equally impressive is a diamond bracelet from 1946 set with about 58 carats of round, baguette and emerald-cut diamonds. Fashioned to resemble a belt, the remarkable piece featured channel-set diamonds mimicking flowing fabric.

Wallis Simpson, The Duchess of Windsor

An important Van Cleef & Arpels client with very sharp taste, American socialite Wallis Simpson favoured simple, clean couture outfits that provided the perfect backdrop for her enviable jewellery collection. Over the years, her husband – the Duke of Windsor (also known as Edward VIII, the former King of the United Kingdom) – bought and customised many pieces from the maison as tokens of his love to her. Among these was a diamond and ruby bracelet with the inscription, “Hold tight 27.III.36” (gifted to Simpson a few months before his abdication) and a two-feather clip featuring Mystery Set rubies and diamonds for Christmas in 1936.

The Duke of Windsor also commissioned Van Cleef & Arpels to create the Cravate necklace with rubies and diamonds for the duchess’ 40th birthday in 1936. Its clasp was engraved with “My Wallis from her David, 19.VI.1936”. It is believed that Simpson had the necklace redesigned later by René Sim Lacaze, a prolific jewellery designer at Van Cleef & Arpels, to incorporate additional stones. The new platinum setting featured rows of intertwined rubies and diamonds, which ended in a spectacular cascade of more rubies.

The duchess is also said to have been the inspiration behind the house’s emblematic Zip necklace. Her favourite fashion designer, Elsa Schiaparelli, had started adding visible zip details to her pieces and the duchess suggested the utilitarian item’s bejewelled equivalent to Renée Puissant – the founding couple’s daughter and Artistic Director at Van Cleef & Arpels in the Art Deco decades. Designed to be worn either open around the neck, or closed to grace the wrist as a bracelet, the necklace that would later be synonymous with the maison was realised in the late 1930s.

Elizabeth Taylor, actress

Inspired by Venetian door knockers with a lion’s head and diamond-set mane forming the collar is the 1971 Barquerolles necklace. Set in yellow gold, the scintillating piece transforms into two bracelets and a brooch.

It was gifted by Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor, who wrote about the moment she first saw the piece: “I always know when something is right because my heart goes ‘click’ and my heart was clicking like a castanet when I saw this set. Richard loved it on me and he said, ‘Wow! You are so beautiful, nobody is going to believe you’re a grandmother.’”

This story was published in the March 2021 issue of Prestige Singapore.

The post Van Cleef & Arpels and The Royalty Who Wore Them appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

This is probably a world first. In celebration of the 100th year of the N°5 perfume, also possibly known as the most famous perfume in the world, Patrice Leguéreau, director of the Chanel Fine Jewellery Creation Studio, has created a high jewellery necklace inspired by the design of the iconic perfume bottle, showcasing a 55.55-carat custom-cut diamond.

The fragrance, composed in 1921 by Ernest Beaux and Gabrielle Chanel as the first "perfume for women with the scent of a woman" — is ubiquitous to all, and has been a mainstay in many of our bathroom shelves. Chanel's high jewellery began in 1932, when Mademoiselle Chanel created her one and only high jewellery collection called "Bijoux de Diamants".

This 2021, the launch of the Collection N°5 high jewellery celebrates these two treasured domains by the Maison. “Gabrielle Chanel approached these two universes with the same visionary values, focusing on audacity and the quest for excellence. I wanted to rediscover that creative gesture with this collection, which has been conceived like a journey through the meanderings of the N°5 perfume’s soul, from the architecture of the bottle to the olfactive explosion of the fragrance," says Leguéreau.

The zenith of the high jewellery collection is the extraordinary 55.55 necklace, named after the exceptional 55.55-carat diamond that is crafted as the ultimate tribute to the classic perfume.

While most jewellers will cut into a diamond rough with the goal of obtaining the biggest stone possible without compromising on clarity, Chanel's team took an unprecedented approach, setting themselves the mission to cut a perfectly proportioned diamond that weighed an exact 55.55 carats.

The result is a beautiful emerald cut diamond, 55.55-carats exactly, in D Flawless quality, set in 18-carat white gold and surrounded by 104 round diamonds and 42 baguette diamonds. In a display of creativity and style, the necklace comes with a diamond-set topper, and the silhouette of the bottle is shaped out of pear-shape and marquise-shaped diamonds cut in different sizes. No detail is overlooked, even the fastener is shaped like the lucky number 5.

This unique necklace, however, is not meant for sale, with Chanel deciding to keep the necklace 55.55 in its archives.

The post Chanel Celebrates 100 Years of the N°5 Perfume with a 55.55-Carat Diamond Necklace appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Thirty years after Fred’s ruby and diamond necklace shot to fame on the neck of the beguiling Julia Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman, the jewellery piece has inspired a fully-fledged collection that embodies freedom, audacity, and young love. We speak to Valérie Samuel, artistic director at Fred, about the making of a new classic collection.

Of the many memorable moments in the 1990s movie Pretty Woman, one of the most successful romantic comedies ever to have graced the silver screen, one scene, in particular, has left a stronger impression than the rest. When Julia Roberts’ character Vivian Ward steps out in a floor-length crimson red gown and Richard Gere’s Edward Lewis presents her with a ruby and diamond necklace, it’s perhaps the moment when the world was introduced to Roberts’ vivacious, wholesome laughter for the first time. A child-like wonder and glee permeate her character as, wonderstruck, she reaches out for the necklace, Gere playfully snaps the box shut over her fingers and she bursts heartily into laughter.

A turning point in the movie plot, the scene is also pivotal as it also propelled not only Roberts to fame, but also the name of the jeweller who lent the necklace to the Pretty Woman production team: Fred.

The brand’s founder, Fred Samuel, had been a jeweller since 1936, but it wasn’t until 1966 that the name was established by Fred Samuel’s eldest son. With shops already in Paris and Monaco, Fred’s first US boutique in the United States opened 1977 in Los Angeles on Rodeo Drive in 1977, right in the heart of Beverly Hills and well within the reach of Hollywood celebrities, forging intimate bonds with many within the cinema industry.

It wasn’t, therefore, too unusual for Fred to received a visit from a movie production team seeking to borrow a piece of jewellery for a leading actress, but it soon surprised everyone how significant that piece of jewellery had became.

“We had no idea that the necklace of ruby and diamond hearts they chose would become a special part of the movie,” recalls Valérie Samuel, the granddaughter of Fred Samuel and the brand’s current artistic director, “but it’s unquestionably one of our house’s fondest memories.”

Inevitably, the necklace came to be named Pretty Woman, and it’s served as a major source of inspiration for the brand, reinterpreted many times over the years. But it wasn’t until two years ago that Samuel and her team considered designing a full collection as a tribute.

Making of the Pretty Woman high jewellery collection

To Samuel, the rubellite was an obvious choice for the important high-jewellery and jewellery collection, though it posed many challenges. “It brought many constraints,” says Samuel. “We had to find uncut stones that met all the Fred quality criteria, and we also had to find enough of them in the same intense pink-red hue that I picked, so as to provide jewellery for mixing and matching.

“The toughest constraint was that there were only three mines in the world producing rubellite. So, it took us more than two years to source and bring together the finest and purest of these stones.”

But perseverance paid off. The Pretty Woman collection is defined by the uniquely reddish-pink rubellite stones from the tourmaline family, which shift from magenta pink to purplish-red in the light.

The design is also distinctive. In the hollow of each open-worked diamond heart is a second heart-shaped rubellite, elegantly positioned slightly off-centre in an alternating fashion, evoking an unencumbered attitude and radiating youthful energy.

“Even though the collection is inspired by the necklace in the movie,” Samuel explains, “my vision was to capture a distinctive aesthetic – the heart within a heart – as well as by a mindset with Fred’s typical joie de vivre and sense of freedom.”

Samuel’s favourite piece from the collection is the Audacious necklace. The string of brilliant- and fancy-cut diamonds, to which eight rubellite and diamond hearts are attached, is six jewellery pieces in one. The transformative nature of the high-jewellery piece embodies her entire philosophy for the Pretty Woman collection. “It’s several jewellery pieces in one, with multiple ways of being worn and is a feat as technically advanced as it’s mischievously non-conformist,” she says.

“Six of them can be detached, one by one, to create as many different pieces and wearing options: earrings, a brooch, pin and chain necklace. Transformed in this way, the necklace, comprising 554 diamonds totalling 20 carats, and eight rubellites totalling 14 carats, forms a sophisticated and brilliant choker for daily wear.”

Since re-joining the company in 2017, Samuel has designed with the free spirit in mind. Her designs within Fred’s signature collections – which include Force 10, Chance Infinie, Pain de Sucre and Success – have opened up the brand to new silhouettes, styles and declinations, while always respecting Fred’s DNA. “I felt as if I were opening new territories of the brand’s expressions,” she says. “Jewellery to be worn every day, by the free spirit, thanks to the versatility in the pieces for mixing and matching.”

Everyday fine jewellery pieces

The Pretty Woman collection thus comprises not only important high-jewellery pieces, but also fine jewellery for everyday wear.

“I wanted to give this major new collection for Fred an energy that’s joyful, stylish and relaxed at the same time. And to allow women the scope to make it all their own, to experiment with it, to dare wearing multiple pieces at once,” says Samuel.

In the fine jewellery line, the striking heart-within-a- heart design is expressed in pink or white gold, in smooth, semi-paved or sparkling in a show-coloured setting, from necklaces sized from mini to XL, chains, ear studs and earrings, rings and bracelets.

Last but not least, the collection needed a muse, and who better to embody the new collection than the niece of the leading lady who captured the hearts of millions in the original movie. “From the beginning, it was our conviction that only the actress Emma Roberts, niece of Julia, could be our Pretty Woman ambassador today,” says Samuel. “It was an obvious choice: she captures perfectly the way of love that the Maison Fred wanted to portray: unconditional, spontaneous, audacious.”

The post Fred’s Pretty Woman Collection for the Pretty Strong, Independent Woman appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Nature renderd in rare gems – from the brand's signature panther to exotics plants.

The post The flora and fauna that has inspired Cartier’s jewellery designs appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Nature renderd in rare gems – from the brand's signature panther to exotics plants.

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

Nature renderd in rare gems – from the brand's signature panther to exotics plants.

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

The House of Graff has envisioned a captivating character for its latest jewellery collection, the Tilda's Bow Collection.

The protagonist is Tilda, a young girl with a magic touch who can turn silk into diamond ribbons. Each jewel is a vision from her vivacious fantasies. The voluminous swirl of diamonds, knotted and spun into shining bows, are expertly shaped by Graff's jewellers to capture the realistic form of a silk ribbon and all its femininity, delicacy, and sensuality.

The bow has always been a major motif for Graff, according to Anne-Eva Geffroy, Design Director at Graff. For the Tilda's Bow collection, it's not just the bow itself, but the motion of tying it that serves as the source of inspiration.

"We capture the precise moment a woman finishes tying a bow on her dress or in her hair — the loose, organic shape and expressive movement," says Geffroy.

Tilda might have dreamt up these magical ribbons but the real magic is at the fingertips of the designers at Graff, who bring these whimsical fantasies to life. The masters in the Graff workshop shape each curve and twist of the diamond ribbon to evoke a hand-tied bow. Then, the beautifully shaped bows are used to adorn necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets.

Tilda's Bow latest designs

The Tilda's Bow Diamond Necklace is one of the latest interpretations. It's an enchanting white gold necklace that features double strands of round diamonds that loop around the neck. The delicate hand-tied bow rests just off-centre, above the collarbone. The charming necklace comes with baguette-cut and round diamonds with a total weight of 13.50 carats.

You’ll find spectacular high jewellery pieces in the Tilda’s Bow collection, but everyday diamonds are also a huge part of the collection. Petite yet powerful, these new everyday pieces feature ribbons of pavé and pear-shaped diamonds. The designs are minimalist and yet perfectly timeless, evoking the always and forever nature of diamonds that appeal to the young and spirited Tilda within all of us.  

Learn more or shop the latest designs in the Tilda's Bow collection on graff.com.

The post Meet Tilda: Graff’s New Muse appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Make a statement.

The post The latest Clash de Cartier jewellery shakes up the collection with outsize proportions and supple forms appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Make a statement.

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

Stellar Times features strong, bold lines and vivid gems from the world’s most exotic places, including Madagascar and Mozambique.

The post Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director for Jewellery Francesca Amfitheatrof talks about the house’s latest collection appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

Stellar Times features strong, bold lines and vivid gems from the world’s most exotic places, including Madagascar and Mozambique.

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

A brilliantly vibrant yellow hue - "Illuminating" as it's technically coined - has been named by colour authority Pantone as one of 2021's colour and quite frankly, this spirited shade is precisely what we all need right now as we hope to begin the year with a healthy ray of optimism. And how better to keep us in a cheerful disposition than with glorious jewels set with striking yellow diamonds? Here are a few magnificent pieces that caught our fancy - pun intended. 

Harry Winston

Go home or go big and of course we're going for the latter. And surely you can leave it to the king of diamonds Harry Winston to deliver with this radiant-cut solitaire yellow diamond ring that weighs over 80 carats. Astounding!

Cindy Chao The Art Jewel

For a more sculptural piece, these earrings by Cindy Chao The Art Jewel from its Four Seasons collection is the one to have. It's set with cushion-cut yellow diamonds, each over four carats, surrounded by more diamonds set on white and rose gold.

Graff

This glorious necklace by Graff is set with flawless fancy yellow and white diamonds totalling 97.86 carats and in a multitude of cuts.

Piaget

Piaget's Heliconia necklace is finished off beautifully with a 6.46-carat pear-shaped fancy vivid yellow diamond, which is surrounded by 16 brilliant-cut diamonds. A transformable piece, it can be worn three other ways apart from how it's shown here: a ring, diamond pendant and as a purely white diamond necklace.

De Beers

For something more dramatic, De Beers' Electric Cichlid high jewellery detachable necklace fits the bill. The piece features a 3.06-carat, oval-shaped white diamond, surrounded by fancy yellow rough and polished diamonds and round brilliant white diamonds.

Van Cleef & Arpels

A sure-fire conversation piece, this Plumes d'Icare bracelet by Van Cleef & Arpels is a stunningly crafted jewel made in yellow gold and white gold, and set with a 2.04-carat oval-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond highlighted by yellow and white diamonds.

Cartier

This Cartier Magnitude High Jewellery Yuma Necklace is surely not for the faint-hearted. Crafted in platinum, the necklace is set with a variety of fancy brown yellow, intense orangey yellow and yellow diamonds, presented in many cuts - from briolettes, beads, moon-shaped and brilliant cuts.

Bulgari

Hailing from Bulgari's latest high jewellery collection Barocko is this platinum ring set with a shield step-cut 5.02-carat fancy vivid yellow-orange diamond surrounded by fancy yellow pavé-set diamonds and and 38 fancy step-cut diamonds.

Chanel

A necklace fit for royalty, this Roubachka necklace by Chanel from its Le Paris Russe collection is made with a combination of yellow gold and platinum, headlined by a baguette-cut flawless yellow diamond complemented by more multi-cut yellow and white diamonds.

Chaumet

Fancy a tiara? Chaumet's Soleil Glorieux tiara from the Les Ciels de Chaumet collection is the perfectly Pantone option. Made in white and yellow gold, the tiara features a cushion-cut fancy intense Yellow IF diamond weighing 2.51 carats, which is complemented by 21 cabochon-cut rock crystals and brilliant-cut diamonds and yellow diamonds.

Chopard

Turn heads with this pair of Chopard Red Carpet Earrings made in white and yellow ethically-mined gold, set with 19.2 carats of pear-shaped fancy-cut yellow diamonds and 13.7 carats of pear-shaped diamonds.

Tiffany & Co

With this ring set with over 7 carats of fancy intense yellow diamond by Tiffany & Co, you will be looking down at your hand more than usual and you know what, no one can blame you.

The post Irresistible Yellow Diamond Jewels Perfect for Pantone’s 2021 Colour appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.