Celebrity Life

Are jewellery brands moving beyond his and hers once and for all? Prestige speaks to brands big and small about genderless jewellery.

The topic of boys in bling isn’t new – even in this publication, we’ve noticed a rising trend in mainstream jewellery brands that, in the past year or so, have recruited male ambassadors and male models to showcase their latest collections.

Did Harry Styles start it? Some have pointed to the British singer’s red-carpet look at the 2019 Met Gala, when he paired his Gucci ensemble with a single pearl earring. Perhaps. It certainly marked a turning point for men’s accessories in recent years – since then, Styles’ sartorial sensibility has transcended the simple earring to include your grandmother’s pearls and feather boas, inspiring his peers to dress louder, bolder and more gender-fluid. The Jonas Brothers have been spotted rocking the pearl necklace, as has Shawn Mendes. Jake Gyllenhaal has been photographed wearing a simple gold chain necklace time and again. Appropriating “men’s jewellery” to simply watches, signet rings and cufflinks is no longer so appropriate.

Gender is a construct, socially imposed from the moment we’re born, divided into different things, activities, colours or careers deemed suitable for boys or girls. There’s nothing inherent in flowers and dolls that make them more appealing to girls, nothing to dictate that rocket ships and cars are made for boys (girls can play too, but they’re then labelled tomboys) – but somehow they’ve persisted well into the 21st century.

Few things around us are truly gender-neutral, though with changing attitudes towards gender and deeper conversations into inclusivity and representation, this is now changing.

The concept of genderless jewellery isn’t anything new but the years 2020 and beyond have shown an evident shift from mere trend to something that’s here to stay. Previously, genderless jewellery was seen as out of the box and utterly revolutionary – Italian jewellery designer Aldo Cipullo was well ahead of his time when, in 1969 and 1971 respectively, he designed the Cartier Love and Juste un Clou bracelets. The former was inspired by everyday screws and the latter inspired by the humble nail, speaking to the designer’s minimalist and androgynous style beloved by both men and women.

These days, the concept of gender-free jewellery has become the norm. Embodying the more audacious spirit, Roman jeweller Bvlgari has arguably been a champion of this category with its bestselling B.zero1 collection. The collection debuted in 1999, when Bvlgari decided to marry innovation with one of Rome’s most historic monuments – the Colosseum – to create an entirely unconventional and avant-garde design. It was the first collection to be described as unisex by the brand itself.

A major success, it inspired more iterations, from collaborations with the late architect Zaha Hadid, who reimagined the industrial, cylindrical shape with her fluid, undulating aesthetics, to the latest B.zero1 Rock collection, which adds irreverent studs to the design’s central band.

Even pearls – not just traditionally viewed as feminine, but also decidedly old-fashioned – were given an unexpected boost of gender-free appeal when Mikimoto partnered with Comme des Garçons to unveil the fashion label’s first jewellery collection in 2020. As a forerunner of avant-garde fashion under the leadership of Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garçons challenged the norms of beauty and tradition – why can’t men also wear pearls? Through the collaboration, both brands aimed to adorn the necks of all, regardless of age or gender. Pearls were suddenly cool again when paired with chunky silver chains and emblazoned with the Comme des Garçons logo.

Louis Vuitton’s Volt collection by artistic director Francesca Amfitheatrof is another stellar example of jewellery transcending borders and genders. The brand takes inspiration from its classic leitmotif, allowing the capital L and V letters to intersect, stack up together, or connect at the ends to form lightning-bolt and pulse-line designs – new shapes that are decidedly graphic and cool. There’s a chain-link design as well as a mesh, presenting the L and V letters in myriad textures, finishes and dimensions with great gender-neutral appeal.

Expanding the Volt collection this year, Louis Vuitton brings us the LV Volt Upside Down, playfully turning the letters L and V on their heads to form lively and energising patterns in yellow- and white-gold pendants, highlighted with diamonds. There are radiant rings and bracelets that can be stacked and layered, and even a rocker-chic ear cuff that adds a bold and modern twist to the collection.

Locally, we see brands enthusiastically dressing up our city’s most treasured male idols. Hong Kong-based designers, too, are creating for a more gender-fluid crowd, utilising abstract themes and aesthetics that are universally appealing.

ZNS Jewellery is a brand-new concept that comes under long-established Hong Kong jeweller KS Sze & Sons and is headed by co-founder and chief creative officer Alan Chan. The traditional jeweller and the well-known designer had no qualms about entering the jewellery market anew, with a new attitude and gender-free positioning they believe was still underrepresented.

A philosophy, rather than material inspiration was Chan’s starting point. “Despite my many years of experience in design, I’m a newcomer to the jewellery business and to come up with an original and unique concept in this competitive market is never easy,” he explains. “I looked back at my life to uncover the belief and values close to my heart that I wanted to crystalise in my design – the notion of “from eternity to infinity” is what I’ve instilled in my jewellery concept. This philosophy became the groundwork.”

ZNS, with an audacious motto – See No Limits – showcases jewellery that’s more abstract. “It shows the symbolic values instead of how much the diamond costs,” says Chan. The ZNS collection features the letter Z interpreted in various ways, depicting the infinity sign, or interlinked in chains. Many pieces are designed to be transformable, allowing the wearer to incorporate the jewellery into their everyday lifestyle with ease.

“With growing trends of brands positioning themselves around their values or attitudes, I envisage that gender-free or gender-specific will no longer be an issue,” Chan says of the future of jewellery design. “Only the ideas matter.”

And not just in fine jewellery. Boucheron has emerged as one of the traditional jewellery maisons to wholeheartedly embrace gender fluidity in its high-jewellery collections. The brand’s highly regarded Quatre fine-jewellery collection was already deemed unisex when it launched in 2004.

“High jewellery shouldn’t just be for women,” Claire Choisne, the house’s creative director said. “Boucheron wants men to wear our jewellery because we also design pieces for them. In fact, high jewellery has always been something for men: it was initially created for men, who adorned themselves with jewels at the time of the kings and maharajahs. It’s therefore quite natural to create high-jewellery pieces for men. Jewellery is not about gender, but about style. It allows everyone to express their unique personality.”

Choisne believes there should be no boundaries when it comes to who can and cannot carry her jewellery – this was evident in her jewellery campaign for her latest collection, where both sexes were dressed based solely on what looked good on them, regardless of their gender.

“We create jewellery for women and men who love freedom and independence and know what they want, and that best reflects their personality and taste,” says Choisne. “We want to enable them to tell their story in their own way. Creative freedom is at the heart of our philosophy. This means that our customers are free from any constraints when they wear our pieces … We want women and men to be able to wear our creations as they see fit.”

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Rings that promise, rings that bind – Austy Lee’s latest toi et moi rings celebrate love that’s different, unique and all-encompassing.

Love is a funny thing. For some, it’s meeting their best friend, a soulmate, someone whose thoughts and actions are so like their own that they immediately click. For others, it’s an attraction to the unknown, meeting someone wildly different who thrills and excites them, drawing them out of their comfort zone and opening them up to new things.

Austy Lee’s latest jewellery rings are for the latter coupling, jewellery inspired by falling in love with someone who’s the complete opposite of you. Like yin and yang, concave and convex, somehow opposites attract and fit together naturally, complementing each other perfectly.

The Obliquity Temples Ring in the Dizygotican Collection almost looks like two halves that have been broken apart and melded back together again with its corners unaligned, conveying a sense of jarring togetherness. In yellow gold, the ring is set with two centre stones – a Zambian emerald and a spessartine garnet. Edged in mother-of-pearl, fancy orange-yellow diamonds, champagne diamonds and white diamonds decorate the intricate base plate of the ring.

The Acrossing with Rainbow earrings is another jewellery piece that depicts how colours on opposing ends of the spectrum wheel actually look really pleasing to the eye when they come together. From Austy Lee’s 10th Dimension Collection, the earrings in rose gold are set with vivid neon pink and green ceramics in a cross motif, with champagne diamonds glittering in the centre.

From the Jade Dynasty Collection is the Flowers Between Spring and Winter Ring, a poetic composition that juxtaposes the cool of an unheated Sri Lankan blue star sapphire with the fire of a vivid Zambian emerald. Surrounding the sapphire is a ring of black enamel, while the emerald is encircled by unheated Mozambican pigeon-blood rubies.

Amoebas are strange, shape-altering organisms that have captured Austy Lee’s attention – he created the Neon Amoeba ring in the 10th Dimension Collection to pay tribute to its fluid and inconstant beauty. The between-the-fingers ring showcases an oval-shaped yellow sapphire at one end encircled by red and turquoise enamel, while at the other end, in complete contrast, is an emerald-cut Zambian emerald, with straight-edged orange and royal-blue enamel.

So enamoured is Austy Lee of amoebas that there’s a second between-the-fingers ring in the same collection. This ring features more unusual stones: the fiery iridescence of the Australian black opal is contrasted with the translucent blue-green of the apatite. The irregular shapes of the stones are outlined by rings of green and red enamel, fancy pink diamonds, fancy coloured diamonds and white diamonds.

[Hero image: Neon Amoeba ring in the 10th Dimension Collection]

Discover the full collection on Austyleeartjewellery.com.

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Shanyan Fok Koder and Richard Bassett explain how a Hong Kong art entrepreneur joined forces with a former special-forces soldier to launch a health and mental wellbeing app, Mentor360.

"Mental health and mental fitness are universal concerns," says Shanyan Fok Koder. "And regardless of your demographic, social status, your job or your age, it’s something everyone has to deal with."

Shanyan Fok Koder & Richard Bassett on Mental Health App Mentor360

The Mentor360 app dropped on World Mental Health Day in October, the cumulation of the last 20 months of work and conversations (usually across continents over Zoom) between former military man Richard Bassett and worldly art advisor Koder. A month later, I’m sitting with both in a North London café talking over slices of pizza.

Their app, they hope, offers everyone a holistic 360 guide and framework to “finding your formula” for mental and physical wellbeing. It uses a hybrid approach, with a core layer of clinicians and professional Mentors and then celebrity Ambassadors (who’ve publicly shared meaningful life stories) critical for building noise and momentum.

"I’d been in the military for a long time. And there were a couple of incidents in my life that made me want to create something," Bassett, the CEO, explains. "Firstly, it was my father committing suicide. Then my son had a bit of misdirection. And several of my friends in the military had PTSD issues or adjustment disorders."

"The biggest issue is why people wouldn’t come forward and say they’ve got a problem?” he asks.

“Unlike some apps, we’re not trying to get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it”

— Richard Bassett

The answer often lay in culture, lack of education or concerns about privacy that prevent many from seeking help. With that came Bassett’s idea of creating an app that functions as a “non-judgmental toolkit” with content validated by experts – who include coaches, performance psychologists, mental health-specialising nurses and a clinical psychologist.

Basset’s link with Koder came when his best friend, ex-special forces colleague and TV star Jason Fox, sat next to a pregnant Koder at a charity fundraiser for Born (which researches to prevent premature birth) in late 2019. As the pair talked about their passions for mental health and children’s wellbeing, the connection to Bassett’s idea became quickly apparent.

"Foxy told me that I have to meet his friend, Richard, who’s building this app," Koder recalls. "I was always wanting to support things that are very meaningful and close to my heart … and now Jason is actually our key mentor. The partnership between Richard and I was almost like two parts of a jigsaw puzzle come together."

Although some might go to the app for help with stress, trauma or even resources to help with suicidal feelings, Mentor360 is designed specifically as a three-dimensional offering that will also encourage fitness, workouts, performance and meditation or more clinical matters.

"We wanted to maintain the human factor as a constant throughout. So it feels like somebody has given you some advice rather than some process-driven machine learning," Bassett adds.

The co-founders might come from two different worlds, but the unlikely partnership speaks to the ubiquity of the issues at hand. Bassett’s 25-year military career saw him being appointed the first ever Command Sergeant Major within the UK Special Forces military group. "It was at that stage where I was asked if I wanted to run defence,” he says. “At that point, I thought, I’ve kind of had my fill of the military now, it’s time to move on."

Koder meanwhile grew up in Hong Kong and the UK as the daughter of Li Ka-shing’s "right-hand man" Canning Fok, carving out a career in the arts and taking over her family’s impressive collection. As a female art entrepreneur and mother, her challenges would be different.

"When I had the misfortune of losing three babies to miscarriage and dealing with that emotional fallout, it led me to want to support this as a cause," Koder divulges. "If there’d been something like this app available to me, I don’t think I’d have suffered as much as I did emotionally. It’s a topic that’s still very taboo, even in this day and age … and while you eventually find your own community, at the very beginning, you do feel very alone."

Both were clearly driven towards the app through deeply personal experiences. Bassett saw first-hand how soldiers who’d done several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered – his best friend, Fox, had left the forces with PTSD. Perhaps machismo or fear of institutional repercussions meant that the issue was often ignored or hidden in the military – but he hopes that Mentor360’s holistic approach can gently lead people to explore mental fitness alongside physical performance too.

The male-female perspectives of the pair offer a well-rounded, powerful tool. And while the wellness space is already crowded, Mentor360 stands out by being so broad, human-focused and non-prescriptive.

There’s been exciting traction too. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded in more than 176 countries, with the UK, the US and Australia leading. British schools have reached out and it’s one governance board away from being trialled within the National Health Service (NHS), which means added clinical risk management in the app. That has been an important validation, says Bassett, "especially when an institution like that has picked it out from a huge spectrum of apps on the market today."

Covid-19 and lockdowns have helped throw light on mental health, taking the conversation more mainstream. The timeliness has hit home; as Bassett says, “there’s a lot of people now struggling with the transition between Covid and normality”.

Koder tells us that the plan is to serve individuals but also institutions such as the NHS and the military. There’s also the option of “white labelling” it, so the app can be packaged and tailored to certain industries or corporate employees. In the future, might they look more global, with different languages and translations? Absolutely, the pair say, but they’re taking it “slow and steady”. There’s been interest from American corporations and Koder says that she’s keen to push into Asia very soon. Although going truly global might mean translating for languages, cultures and tone, as well as working with diverse psychologists, it remains a future ambition.

Mentor360 may be extra helpful in cultures where mental health is still relatively taboo. As Koder says, "I think, coming from our Asian culture, it speaks volumes to me – so much of our culture is about still performance or hiding a lot of what you’re feeling."

"Unlike some apps,” Bassett adds, "what we’re not trying to do is create a hook or get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it, and if you don’t need it for a while because you’re good, you can just put it away … We’re starting to see those patterns in the trend analysis."

To get a little personal, I ask what works for them individually to keep a healthy mind and body. Bassett’s formula revolves around daily exercise, time with the family, dogs and good sleep – even the occasional glass of wine on the sofa in front of a crackling fireplace. Koder’s happiness hacks centre around motherhood, being content and at peace in her skin, and looking at life with a certain romanticism: "I always love to see the poetry in my day,” she says, "and I think it’s important to just pause throughout the day, check-in and acknowledge that I’ve achieved these things and I should be proud of myself, rather than just rushing on to the next thing."

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Infatuated with the Roaring Twenties, Cindy Yeung explores the jewellery and fashion of 1920s women in her latest Nùo by Cindy Yeung Sautoir collection.

Cindy Yeung has long had an interest in jewellery design and has been creating her own pieces for more than 10 years. You’d hardly expect the chairperson of Emperor Jewellery to be as hands-on as she is, while overseeing the 70-year-old retailer’s many brands, ranging from the most prestigious timepieces to contemporary jewellery and the brand’s own creations.

But driven by her own pursuit for exemplary craftsmanship and creativity, Yeung was inspired to create her own brand of jewellery. Nuò by Cindy Yeung, meaning promise in Chinese and representing the Chinese character in her name, demonstrates both her own commitment to quality and the skills and expertise of Emperor Jewellery’s team of craftsmen.

The 'Nuò by Cindy Yeung' Sautoir Collection by Emperor Jewellery

"All the inspirations for Nuo’s collections come from me,” says Yeung. “Then, my team will help me sketch them out and create the final pieces.” From sketching to sourcing the gemstones and crafting the pieces, the entire process to put together a collection takes up to a year, while some of the more challenging pieces could take two to three months of back and forth before they’re complete.

The latest Nuò by Cindy Yeung collection is Sautoir, inspired by the epoch-making accessory of the 1920s: the long sautoir necklace. Appearing as long twists of pearls or draped with tassels and large pendants at the end, sautoirs were the accessory of choice for contemporary, confident, and free-spirited women of that era.

It was a period that captivated Yeung. “I’ve always loved reading old classics and found the fashion in the 1920s so sleek and stylish,” she says. “I loved how women dressed then, and how they did their hair. It also had a similarity to Chinese fashion at that time. The style was also very slim-fitting – and Chinese ladies also wore sautoir necklaces. I loved both cultures and that’s how I started imagining sautoirs as a theme for this year’s collection.”

 “Because I’m Chinese it was important for me to bring out the beauty of jadeite in an oriental brand, but in a Western style” 

Yeung’s design philosophy often revolves around the East-meets-West concept, and her collections often combine Western jewellery techniques with Asian motifs. Yeung’s favourite gemstone to incorporate into her jewellery is jadeite. “Fei Cui isn’t very often used in international brands, but because I’m Chinese it was important for me to bring out the beauty of jadeite in an oriental brand, but in a Western-style,” she says. “Fei Cui is my favourite stone to use. I love the green colour and it represents femininity in Chinese culture.”

Fei Cui appears throughout the Sautoir collection. There’s a beautiful jadeite and mother-of-pearl necklace that was created with a double-sided stone-setting technique. The set also featured a detachable design that allowed the necklace to be divided into three necklaces or bracelets to allow the wearer to create her own style. Another Sautoir necklace, inspired by Venus the goddess of love, features harmonic hues of natural purple Fei Cui, black chalcedony, pearl, ruby and diamond.

Transformable jewellery also features predominantly in the collection. “I’m a career woman,” explains Yeung, “and there are often parties and functions I need to attend that I don’t have the time to change my outfits for. I love playing with transformable jewellery and making them wearable during both day and night.”

Yeung points out a particular jewellery piece set with rubies and sapphires, which comes with a detachable clip. “This was the most creatively challenging piece to make,” she says. “The necklace comes with a detachable clip that turns into a pair of earrings. If you’re going out at night, you can wear the necklace, and turn the clasp into earrings for a grander look.”

East meets West, old and new, tradition versus modern – these are all concepts that she consistently explores through Nùo by Cindy Yeung. And the Sautoir collection embodies this sentiment exactly. It’s a celebration of tradition, of an era 100 years past, but it’s also a celebration of the versatility and strength, and the incredible fashion sense found in today’s modern-day women.

View the entire Nuò by Cindy Yeung collection here.

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Pomellato isn't your typical fine jewellery brand. It prides itself for being different, for being bold and for being authentically, and fiercely, Milanese in its design and philosophy. This festive season, if you're looking for a gift for yourself or for the independent women in your life, you've come to the right place.

"Pomellato is about the beauty of being yourself," says CEO Sabina Belli, and wearing Pomellato can convey "a sense of power, independent, strength." The brand was created in 1967, at a time when women's rights were being affirmed. It was the dawn of a new era for new power, bringing to light a new generation of youths, women and creative minds.

Pomellato's founder was Pino Rabolini, who frequented the Brera's Bar Jamaica in Milan, an epicentre of progressive thinking for all artistic fields. When he established Pomellato, it brought a fashionable revolution to fine jewellery and was an integral part of the Milanese design renaissance.

Today, the brand carries on this independent spirit. While the world of fine jewellery can still be quite conservative, Pomellato is paving the way for jewellery that speaks directly to women who prefer to buy their own jewellery, and prefer jewellery pieces that liberate, rather than show off wealth and status.

With their unconventional yet timeless designs, Pomellato jewellery pieces are sure to excite the receiver, be it your closest women friends and family, even yourself.

Read on to discover the latest collections from Pomellato.

Nudo – gifts for the sophisticated woman

Take the Nudo collection for example, which debuted in 2001. At a time when ring settings tended to be more elaborate and traditional, Pomellato reduced the ring design to its bare essence, presenting its vivid coloured gemstones in its purest, most tactile form. The first collection featured vibrant hues of garnet, aquamarine, peridot, iolite and red tourmaline and enjoyed instant success all around the world.

This year, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Nudo Chocolate collection is born, bringing us a few new delectable designs.

The Nudo Chocolate collection is inspired by cacao sweet treats. Set with moonstones and brown diamonds on warming 18K rose gold, the rings, earrings and bangles are a departure from Nudo's usual colour palette, evoking a more subtle and sophisticated touch.

Iconica – gifts for the audacious woman

Design is at the forefront of the new jewellery pieces in the 2021 Iconica Collection. In sinuous gold, crafted in homage to Pomellato's origins in goldsmithing, the Iconica bracelets and chunky rings are sculpted from rose gold or white gold, with hand-carved diamond settings in the shapes of Pomellato stars, triangles, droplets, diamonds and squares.

There is also a precious colour parure in the collection, featuring a new "chain link" earring and a new hoop earring that comes with Pomellato's signature gemstone colours set in rose gold.

Catene – gifts for the fashionable woman

Catene, meaning chains in Italian, naturally features chain-inspired jewellery for the young, fashion-forward customer. Chains have always been a fashion staple, and have been at the very heard of the Pomellato story since the beginning. Founder Rabolini was the son of a Milanese family of goldsmiths who specialised in chain and ring-making. His Gourmet chain, when he debuted it, became the first fine jewel to be considered a fashion accessory.

Pomellato has mastered the technique for making supple chains, no matter whether they're stacks of chunky chokers or tiers of draped, gem-set chains. A long sautoir would require 16 hours to craft, while more elaborate gem-set versions could take up to 170 hours of meticulous work by Pomellato's craftsmen.

The timeless design makes the Catene collection the perfect daily essential with a Milanese sensibility. Composed of bracelets, rings and earrings, the collection features dangling and mobile chains in the Gourmette (curb chain) link style, which moves with the wearer as she goes about her day. The collection comes in rose gold with or without diamonds, or in white gold with diamonds.

Playful, sophisticated, stylish and timeless, each Pomellato jewellery piece is an embodiment of each individual's personality and style. It's sure to be a gift you would love to gift and receive.

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To those whose whirlwind romance looks likely to become permanent, we've put together everything they'll need to know about that all-important token of everlasting love – the engagement ring.

If we didn’t know this already, 2021 definitely proved a certain point – that nothing can get in the way of love, not even a pandemic that knows no end. People may reschedule their weddings to 2022, even 2023, but proposals and engagements are still very much happening.

And with every proposal, there’s the ultimate prop: the ring to symbolise eternal love and commitment. It doesn’t have to be a diamond, but it sure needs to be something you know your partner will cherish. Whether you’re dropping hints to your partner about the ring of your dreams, or even shopping together for it, we’ve gathered all the advice from our favourite bridal jewellers to narrow down the top engagement-ring trends that we believe are here to stay.

Read on to discover all the engagement ring trends.

Trend 1: Keeping it Classic

The diamond engagement ring will forever remain a classic, even if it isn’t technically traditional – diamonds only became synonymous with bridal jewellery when copywriter Frances Gerety coined the phrase “A Diamond is Forever” for a 1947 De Beers campaign. Nonetheless, white diamonds remain a popular choice and numerous jewellery brands purport to offer the best of them.

For example, Graff, the king of diamonds, takes its diamond selection process extremely seriously, having spent generations perfecting the journey of a stone from mine to boutique, ensuring on the way that the cut, the setting and the craftsmanship behind each jewel are flawless. Diamonds are graded by the 4Cs, a universal standard set by the Gemmological Institute of America (GIA) that refers to a diamond’s cut, colour, clarity and carat weight. At Graff, the diamonds are cut and polished to be perfect balanced with symmetrical mirror-like facets to display the optimum scintillation; you’ll also find that in terms of colour, Graff only uses diamonds ranging between D and G – the rarest and most sought-after grades.

At Hearts on Fire, cut is the most important of the 4Cs. A round, brilliant-cut diamond is arguably the most sparkling and radiant, as it displays the highest number of facets within to reflect light, and this is also the cut that Hearts on Fire exclusively specialises in.

Trend 2: Going for Fancy Shapes

Today, however, there’s definitely a rise in popularity for fancy shapes. Clients who go to Angie Marei in New York, aren’t looking for round brilliant-cut diamonds.. The Dominican-Egyptian designer takes inspiration from Ancient Egyptian decorative arts, architecture and the anti-traditional elegance of the Art Deco era to bring each piece a unique story. Her Ayla Bridal Collection for example, is inspired by the majestic open curves and fluidity of Arabic calligraphy and decorative arts, with a serpentine design that’s a spiritual symbol of rebirth, transformation, eternity and immortality.

“Most of my clients are requesting unique cuts over the traditional round brilliant cuts,” Marei tells us. “For example, our Ayla Engagement Ring featuring a marquise-cut diamond is in high demand now. They love the ultra-feminine look of the marquise shape. We’re also getting a lot of requests for pear and oval-cut diamonds.”

Similarly, De Beers has noticed the trend for fancy cuts, and has extended its offering of fancy-cut and fancy-colour solitaire diamond rings this year, offering its clients full control of their individual expressions. Marquise-cut, a modification of the round brilliant that maximises carat weight and gives the illusion of longer and slimmer fingers, dates back to the 1700s. According to legend, Louise XV of France requested a diamond cut to resemble the perfectly-shaped mouth of his mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour.

Heart-shaped diamonds are also making a comeback among hopeless romantics. Their popularity dates back to the 16th century, when Mary Queen of Scots gave Queen Elizabeth a heart-shaped diamond ring as a gift of friendship.

Trend 3: Design-Forward

London-based designer Liv Luttrell, who excels in creating bespoke engagement rings for her clients, says she’s “found a real interest in dramatic design-led pieces.

“I’ve been exploring geometric shapes paired with detailed settings and simple curving architectural-inspired lines,” says Luttrell. “The challenge I relish is to take a bold brief and bring it to life, where the final design has the right balance of quality, uniqueness and timeless elegance that will be wearable for a lifetime.”

Intricate design is on the mind of Harry Winston’s designers, too. Inspired by the intricate details and elements of a bespoke wedding gown, the house has applied the same mindset and artistry to its new Bridal Couture collection of rings. Each ring highlights the various diamond cuts with signature elements that recall the wedding-day ensemble – such as the corset lacing of a couture gown, married with a pear-shaped diamond centre stone, or an emerald-cut diamond contrasting with the delicate open-weave fabric of Chantilly lace. For a more avant-garde take on an engagement ring, there’s also an exquisite ring designed with two marquise-shaped diamonds of approximately the same carat weight, resting asymmetrically side-by-side on a diamond and platinum band.

Trend 4: Attention to the Ring Band

Jewellery designer Rachel Boston has noticed a trend for more unusual band styles. “At the moment, we’re seeing a lot of interest in more unusual band styles, with people leaning towards wider statement bands,” she says.
“A chunky band is a perfect way to turn something that would otherwise be a much more classic-looking engagement ring into a piece with a really unique character,” says Boston. “Split bands are a popular choice as well, and much easier to wear and pair with a wedding band than you’d think. We’re also seeing a draw towards intricate, Art-Deco inspired halos.”

For popular British fine-jewellery brand Annoushka, which introduced its first bridal collection this year, it’s all about the ring jacket. Called Love & Commitment, the collection ranges from simple solitaires and delicate three-stone designs to more extravagant fine stone rings. What’s super interesting is the diamond ring jacket that clients can pair with an engagement ring. Available in yellow or white gold, the interchangeable ring jacket slides snugly around the solitaire ring for extra oomph and pizzaz. The ring jacket functions perfectly as a wedding band, or could even be added as a milestone gift in years to come.

Trend 5: Making a Statement with Colour

Every couple is different, and every proposal is unique. There’s definitely a growing number of people looking for something different – and coloured stones have never been more popular. According to London-based jeweller Michelle Oh, “We’re seeing a huge and growing demand for coloured stones to be used in engagement rings these days. Gone are the days when someone just wants a round brilliant-cut white diamond solitaire for an engagement ring.”

People today are looking for uniqueness. “More and more people try to be different and steer away from silhouettes and shapes that feel too commonplace,” says Oh. “I think this is all part of the zeitgeist of wanting to express individuality and uniqueness.”

Colour is an extremely personal way to display this sense of individuality, she adds. “Even those who still want some diamonds on their ring will opt for less traditional-looking diamonds, such as champagne or grey diamonds, or maybe an unusual cut or shape, to get that different look in their diamond ring.”

The post Engagement Rings: Here’s What You Need to Know About the Latest Trends appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Jeweller Audrey Savransky joins the rich pantheon of inspiring women who create fine jewellery for ladies on the go.

A long-time resident of Hong Kong, back in 2008, Audrey Savransky launched her company AS29 out of a little room in our city - and now her accessories can be seen on the swan-like necks of supermodel Chanel Iman, Alessandra Ambrosio and Bella Hadid. Be it former first-lady Michelle Obama or queen bee Beyonce, there’s tremendous buzz about the signature collection of Savransky that decks the napes and necks of the most powerful and glamorous women in the world.

With a wide range of glittering jewels of all shapes, sizes and colour, her artistic yet immensely wearable collection and statement pieces have received acclaim by many a fashion editor. You see that mop of striking red hair streak through the arteries of Central and recognise the Belgian designer – no matter how masked she may appear to be, as she whizzes by, in a flurry over the constant demands of client meetings, motherhood and helming her own globally recognised company.

Name: Audrey Savransky
Profession: Fine jewellery brand owner 
Industry: Fine Jewellery
Company Size: 15+
Startup Since: 2008

When did you launch your own company?

Diamonds have been running in my family’s DNA for the past four generations. I feel like this professional path was in my destiny and that I had to redefine my family’s diamond legacy. I used to manufacture for other brands in the past, so one fine day, I just decided to launch my own brand in 2008. 

What have been the challenges running a jewellery brand in city like Hong Kong that is so accustomed to designer and legacy brands?

Being based in Hong Kong has been amazing in terms of launching my line. I’ve been able to travel to China and to other countries in Asia in order to manufacture products, which is definitely an advantage that you can’t get in Europe. I believe there is definitely a niche market of people interested in modern fine jewellery in Hong Kong, and that’s why you can find our brand in stores such as Lane Crawford – which was our first point of sales in Asia when I launched AS29. Now, I’m very happy to announce that more than 10 years later, we are carried in stores around Hong Kong, as well as in stores in Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai.

How many pieces do you design each year?

Too many! I always get overwhelmed when designing a new line and testing out new samples. But in general we launch around four collections per year. Usually, our collections come out around Christmas and New Years - they have far more pieces. We also have collections of different price ranges, some of them you can now find exclusively on our new website www.as29.com.

Tell us something about your latest collection – what was the inspiration?

I launched three collections in early March this year, they are called DNA, TAG and LOCK. I took a deep dive into the inner identity of the brand, creating a collection where you can notice the letters and numbers. This is representative of a new foundation for AS29, while at the same time still staying true to the unique and rebellious design and heritage of the brand. The three collections are made of perfectly pave white diamond encrusted pieces and solid 18k gold. I wanted to create something modern, that can be worn forever.

I loved seeing your shoot with an all-girl team. Girl power 2021!  The campaign is stunning. Tell us a bit about your crew.

We had indeed a great team shooting for this and previous campaign. I loved working with very talented girls, the photographer Ruby Law and the stylist Justine Lee. We had the great pleasure of shooting at The Hari Hong Kong hotel for the first time, a new venue for a new collection!

What’s a normal work day for you?  What are the biggest challenges?

Being a mother of two children, a regular day for me starts at 7am and by the time I’m back home it’s already after 8. I have long, intense, hectic, exciting days… but never a dull moment!

The biggest challenges I faced were during this year was not being able to travel to see my clients and visit our factories due to the pandemic. It was a big, big issue for us. We had to change the whole strategy of our brand to be sold mostly, if not entirely, online - which I believe was the case for many other companies too. Luckily, we managed to increase our online presence by being sold on Goop, Moda Operandi, Threads Styling, and of course Farfetch.

As a teen – was this the passion – what did you aspire to be? 

I grew up in this industry, always surrounded by gemstones and watching not only my parents but my husband handling these incredible precious metal and incredible jewels. Even though I never studied jewellery design or went to GIA, this passion grew with me since an early age and it became  evident that I was meant to do this.

Are you as hands on at home as you are at work?

I’m very hands-on both at home with my kids as well as at work. So it can be challenging at times. I always pick up when they call, which is usually, like clockwork, after 3pm, when schools finish. It can be quite hectic. But I wouldn’t change it in any way. I’m very lucky to do a job that I love and still make time for my children whenever they need me. And I have the amazing help of my husband who’s an amazing father and partner in life. 

Actually, It’s a patronising question isn’t it – to ask what its like to juggle marriage, motherhood and career? No one asks a man the same queries about balancing job and family.

Indeed - but I think it’s important to ask this question to women to raise awareness. Nowadays, more and more women are starting to have two jobs, one being a mum and the other one involving making money - which was not common in the past. I think I can freely speak on behalf of many working mothers; some days are really, really challenging. But, others are simply amazing and make up for every other difficult day. Marriage, motherhood and career are three things that many women experience, and it does not get easier, you learn to balance with experience. I’m a creative person and my work helps me express myself through the jewellery I create each season. Being able to do a job I love and still have quality time for my family is a luxury I’m very aware of having. So don’t worry, I still loved the question!

What advice would you give women trying to establish their own company? 

Believe in yourself, otherwise, who else will? Sometimes people might believe in your talent, but once they are aware of your age or your gender they can change their opinion. I honestly believe that there are no rules for talent, if you believe in it, fight for it, and surround yourself by people that can help you grow. Never look back, only forward.

What are your biggest markets that might surprise us to know about?

We have a very strong presence in the Gulf region both online and in terms of being sold in brick and mortar, local stores such as Ali Bin Al in Qatar, Qirdala in Kuwait, Asia Jewellers in Bahrain, Mi Concept in Saudi Arabia, Sylvie Saliba in Beirut just to name a few. Our second biggest market is USA, and then Hong Kong! When I first started, I did not predict this international chart.

Gotta ask the pandemic q’s – how did it disrupt your industry and how did you adapt to recover?

As I mentioned before, I have never seen anything like this covid pandemic before in my life. It changed so many things in terms of production and seeing our clients - jewellery is a very tactile business and a personalised one. it’s been interesting to see how willing our clients are to buy directly online or through video calls. If you asked me a few years ago if we can sell jewellery by Skype (pre zoom!), I’d say you’re crazy. But now, we've sold over zoom, expensive pieces over WhatsApp Video Calls! Makes me want to live on an island and work remotely forever!

Where would you like to see your company in five years? 

Honestly, I’ve been very happy on how it has turned out – we are in our 13^th year now. As long as the company keeps on moving forward, my clients love the jewels, and I can still maintain a good work and life balance I am happy.

What’s in the works currently?  

New collections are coming out in October, and we have a list of new stores who will be carrying our brand in the US. We are constantly updating online of course. In HK you can find AS29 at Lane Crawford IFC or at www.as29.com – shipped worldwide.

The post Startup Life: Audrey Savransky of AS29 on Her Brand and Girl Power appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

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

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It almost felt like a match made in heaven when Francesca Amfitheatrof joined Louis Vuitton three years ago to helm its jewellery and watch department. Amfitheatrof exudes strength, confidence and energy in the way she carries herself, and it translates into her work.

She had a four-year stint at Tiffany & Co as the brand’s first female design director, where she brought a new sense of modernity to the brand through the introduction of the Tiffany T and the Tiffany HardWear collections. At Louis Vuitton, her influence endures. Her first fine-jewellery collection, B Blossom, sees the designer reinterpreting the house’s famous Monogram flower in new proportions and in an exciting array of colours.

Amfitheatrof designs jewellery unmistakeably for the modern woman, who recognises and is unapologetic about the strength of her own femininity. B Blossom, which was her debut collection for Louis Vuitton, was really a signal for what was to come, as Amfitheatrof took into her own hands the job of revitalising the brand’s jewellery offerings. Taking the blossom motif designed by Georges-Louis Vuitton in 1896, she turned it into beads, with the logo stamped in gold and diamonds over smooth and sculptural spheres of white agate, pink opal, onyx and malachite.

Logomania as we know it peaked in the ’80s and ’90s era of success and excess, and since then it’s yo-yoed in and out of fashion. The B Blossom collection feels very much in trend, though – youthful and energetic, the jewellery is instantly recognisable, but not over the top.

This is very much to Amfitheatrof’s credit, as she’s managed to combine the opulence, power and audacity of the logo with a more refined and delicate take on the jewellery. The new line includes rings, bracelets, bangles, earrings, pendants and chain necklaces that are light and perfect for stacking. There are also chunkier and more statement-making pieces, including an appealing signet-ring design. The medley of coloured stones is pleasing to the eye – they look good however you want to mix and match them.

It’s also interesting to note that the new fine-jewellery collection is designed to be inclusive – not just for the inclusion of the signet ring, which tend to be seen as men’s jewellery, but also for the fact that the campaign embraces a diverse cast, including Indya Moore, a transgender model and actress who’s making waves in the industry. 

Released in 2019, the B Blossom Collection was a promising start. Following her debut act, Amfitheatrof has continuously delighted us with the bold and contemporary LV Volt collection with its graphic and unisex designs, then the Riders of the Knights high-jewellery collection that recalled medieval heroines and gave us Joan of Arc vibes, in armour-inspired designs, amulets and bejewelled chain mail.

Discover Louis Vuitton's B Blossom Collection here.

The post B Blossom Jewellery: Francesca Amfitheatrof’s Power Move at Louis Vuitton appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The Carlyle hotel-inspired bolthole -- slated to open on the uppermost floors of Rosewood Hong Kong later this year -- will offer a blueprint for the eponymous group's vision of "a new kind of international members' club". We venture north of the harbour to discover just what that entails...

Hitherto, the Hong Kong ecosystem of private members' clubs has been split broadly between two camps: at one end, you have venerable institutions catered to the needs of the city's professionals (the FCC) and those who surround them (the KCC); at the other, a burgeoning array of social haunts meant to profit from the growing number of Silicon Valley types -- hawkers of crypto, CBD cafes, and other speculative investment opportunities -- who reside here.

Call me Debbie Downer, but neither feels like an especially glam place to visit. After all, such clubs justify their patronage by way of mostly pragmatic considerations: a convenient location; access to business networking opportunities; affordable gym membership; and so forth. This, as Rosewood Hotels CEO Sonia Cheng well knows is where Carlyle & Co. can break the mould -- by conjuring a little glamour into Hong Kong's mostly comatose members' club scene.

Best thought of as a kind of pied-à-terre to the Rosewood Hong Kong (spanning the 54th-56th floor of the hotel) Carlyle & Co. is, in effect, Cheng's answer to the boutique members' clubs that have dominated pop culture these last 20 years. In Hong Kong -- where bureaucratic red tape is frequent; and decent-sized real estate scant -- her hotel group's latest venture feels especially impressive -- if for no other reason than the sheer audacity of it all.

In recent weeks, the first details of the club's leviathan 25,000 sq. ft. premises have begun to emerge, inspired in broad strokes by the "intriguing, inimitable and ultimately indefinable" style of The Carlyle in New York (incidentally also a brand owned by Rosewood Hotels). To orchestrate this vision of Hong Kong-via-Manhattan, Rosewood turned to British designer Ilse Crawford, whose approach has imbued the club's many rooms with a light, playful sensibility -- affording each a healthy dose of individual personality.

For fusty decadents like yours truly, the gentlemen's spaces -- including a barber, shoeshine, and capsule store by an award-winning haberdasher -- hold immense charm -- even though they espouse just one of many eclectic visual styles members will enjoy each time they navigate the club. The aforementioned differ significantly from spaces like the Cabaret Bar and Sitting Room, both of which employ the medium of painting (by artists Jean-Philippe Delhomme and Christina Zimpel respectively) to celebrate The Carlyle hotel's legendary Bemelmans murals.

Supper & Supping

In the spirit of its progenitor, the various dining venues at Carlyle & Co. seem to be accompanied by an august sense of occasion. The crux of the action happens at the brasserie, which (like any decent club restaurant in Hong Kong) serves a medley of Western, Chinese, and all-day delicacies. Here, the focus is on simply cooking the freshest produce the club can source -- various of the small plates are smoked, cured, or otherwise preserved in-house -- yet it's hardly the most theatrical outlet. That honour belongs to Café Carlyle, an intimate supper club intended as the local chapter of the eponymous tippling destination in New York. Members can expect this to be the repository of the club's live musical programming, which (consistent with the historic acts that have taken to the stage at the Carlyle hotel) will include an assortment of uniquely American artforms like jazz, funk, and blues.

Members craving a dose of sunshine can also take a selection of food and drink on the club's 55th-floor terrace, which (much like the Rosewood property at large) enjoys the sort of view that's conducive to sonnet writing or spontaneous tears of joy. Flanking one end of that terrace, you'll find the local chapter of Bemelmans Bar. Like its namesake, the menu here is split roughly equally between fine wines, punchbowls and classic cocktails; though, at the weekend, you can expect a certain frenetic atmosphere to take hold, as the space merges with the terrace for live DJ performances against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour.

Cosy quarters, brimming with personality

Though Carlyle & Co. members can easily book themselves into one of the 400-plus rooms at the surrounding Rosewood property, the entire 54th floor of the club is given over to eight themed suites -- all of which celebrate the history of The Carlyle hotel. More or less equal in size, each offers an inviting and distinctive interior personality. If you're retiring following an evening spent drinking (one too many) Martinis for instance, the 'Tommy' seems an apt choice -- named for and inspired by the legendary Bemelmans bartender Mr. Tommy Rowles. Other known personalities include Dorothy Draper, the original 'modern Baroque' decorator of The Carlyle's interiors; and Eartha Kitt, the renowned actress and Broadway musician. For dedicated students of café society, a stay in every single suite would seem like money well-spent.

A variety of membership packages are available at Carlyle & Co., with or without health club membership. To learn more about rates (or inquire about eligibility) visit Carlyle & Co. online.

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The Carlyle hotel-inspired bolthole -- slated to open on the uppermost floors of Rosewood Hong Kong later this year -- will offer a blueprint for the eponymous group's vision of "a new kind of international members' club". We venture north of the harbour to discover just what that entails...

Hitherto, the Hong Kong ecosystem of private members' clubs has been split broadly between two camps: at one end, you have venerable institutions catered to the needs of the city's professionals (the FCC) and those who surround them (the KCC); at the other, a burgeoning array of social haunts meant to profit from the growing number of Silicon Valley types -- hawkers of crypto, CBD cafes, and other speculative investment opportunities -- who reside here.

Call me Debbie Downer, but neither feels like an especially glam place to visit. After all, such clubs justify their patronage by way of mostly pragmatic considerations: a convenient location; access to business networking opportunities; affordable gym membership; and so forth. This, as Rosewood Hotels CEO Sonia Cheng well knows is where Carlyle & Co. can break the mould -- by conjuring a little glamour into Hong Kong's mostly comatose members' club scene.

Best thought of as a kind of pied-à-terre to the Rosewood Hong Kong (spanning the 54th-56th floor of the hotel) Carlyle & Co. is, in effect, Cheng's answer to the boutique members' clubs that have dominated pop culture these last 20 years. In Hong Kong -- where bureaucratic red tape is frequent; and decent-sized real estate scant -- her hotel group's latest venture feels especially impressive -- if for no other reason than the sheer audacity of it all.

In recent weeks, the first details of the club's leviathan 25,000 sq. ft. premises have begun to emerge, inspired in broad strokes by the "intriguing, inimitable and ultimately indefinable" style of The Carlyle in New York (incidentally also a brand owned by Rosewood Hotels). To orchestrate this vision of Hong Kong-via-Manhattan, Rosewood turned to British designer Ilse Crawford, whose approach has imbued the club's many rooms with a light, playful sensibility -- affording each a healthy dose of individual personality.

For fusty decadents like yours truly, the gentlemen's spaces -- including a barber, shoeshine, and capsule store by an award-winning haberdasher -- hold immense charm -- even though they espouse just one of many eclectic visual styles members will enjoy each time they navigate the club. The aforementioned differ significantly from spaces like the Cabaret Bar and Sitting Room, both of which employ the medium of painting (by artists Jean-Philippe Delhomme and Christina Zimpel respectively) to celebrate The Carlyle hotel's legendary Bemelmans murals.

Supper & Supping

In the spirit of its progenitor, the various dining venues at Carlyle & Co. seem to be accompanied by an august sense of occasion. The crux of the action happens at the brasserie, which (like any decent club restaurant in Hong Kong) serves a medley of Western, Chinese, and all-day delicacies. Here, the focus is on simply cooking the freshest produce the club can source -- various of the small plates are smoked, cured, or otherwise preserved in-house -- yet it's hardly the most theatrical outlet. That honour belongs to Café Carlyle, an intimate supper club intended as the local chapter of the eponymous tippling destination in New York. Members can expect this to be the repository of the club's live musical programming, which (consistent with the historic acts that have taken to the stage at the Carlyle hotel) will include an assortment of uniquely American artforms like jazz, funk, and blues.

Members craving a dose of sunshine can also take a selection of food and drink on the club's 55th-floor terrace, which (much like the Rosewood property at large) enjoys the sort of view that's conducive to sonnet writing or spontaneous tears of joy. Flanking one end of that terrace, you'll find the local chapter of Bemelmans Bar. Like its namesake, the menu here is split roughly equally between fine wines, punchbowls and classic cocktails; though, at the weekend, you can expect a certain frenetic atmosphere to take hold, as the space merges with the terrace for live DJ performances against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour.

Cosy quarters, brimming with personality

Though Carlyle & Co. members can easily book themselves into one of the 400-plus rooms at the surrounding Rosewood property, the entire 54th floor of the club is given over to eight themed suites -- all of which celebrate the history of The Carlyle hotel. More or less equal in size, each offers an inviting and distinctive interior personality. If you're retiring following an evening spent drinking (one too many) Martinis for instance, the 'Tommy' seems an apt choice -- named for and inspired by the legendary Bemelmans bartender Mr. Tommy Rowles. Other known personalities include Dorothy Draper, the original 'modern Baroque' decorator of The Carlyle's interiors; and Eartha Kitt, the renowned actress and Broadway musician. For dedicated students of café society, a stay in every single suite would seem like money well-spent.

A variety of membership packages are available at Carlyle & Co., with or without health club membership. To learn more about rates (or inquire about eligibility) visit Carlyle & Co. online.

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The Carlyle hotel-inspired bolthole -- slated to open on the uppermost floors of Rosewood Hong Kong later this year -- will offer a blueprint for the eponymous group's vision of "a new kind of international members' club". We venture north of the harbour to discover just what that entails...

Hitherto, the Hong Kong ecosystem of private members' clubs has been split broadly between two camps: at one end, you have venerable institutions catered to the needs of the city's professionals (the FCC) and those who surround them (the KCC); at the other, a burgeoning array of social haunts meant to profit from the growing number of Silicon Valley types -- hawkers of crypto, CBD cafes, and other speculative investment opportunities -- who reside here.

Call me Debbie Downer, but neither feels like an especially glam place to visit. After all, such clubs justify their patronage by way of mostly pragmatic considerations: a convenient location; access to business networking opportunities; affordable gym membership; and so forth. This, as Rosewood Hotels CEO Sonia Cheng well knows is where Carlyle & Co. can break the mould -- by conjuring a little glamour into Hong Kong's mostly comatose members' club scene.

Best thought of as a kind of pied-à-terre to the Rosewood Hong Kong (spanning the 54th-56th floor of the hotel) Carlyle & Co. is, in effect, Cheng's answer to the boutique members' clubs that have dominated pop culture these last 20 years. In Hong Kong -- where bureaucratic red tape is frequent; and decent-sized real estate scant -- her hotel group's latest venture feels especially impressive -- if for no other reason than the sheer audacity of it all.

In recent weeks, the first details of the club's leviathan 25,000 sq. ft. premises have begun to emerge, inspired in broad strokes by the "intriguing, inimitable and ultimately indefinable" style of The Carlyle in New York (incidentally also a brand owned by Rosewood Hotels). To orchestrate this vision of Hong Kong-via-Manhattan, Rosewood turned to British designer Ilse Crawford, whose approach has imbued the club's many rooms with a light, playful sensibility -- affording each a healthy dose of individual personality.

For fusty decadents like yours truly, the gentlemen's spaces -- including a barber, shoeshine, and capsule store by an award-winning haberdasher -- hold immense charm -- even though they espouse just one of many eclectic visual styles members will enjoy each time they navigate the club. The aforementioned differ significantly from spaces like the Cabaret Bar and Sitting Room, both of which employ the medium of painting (by artists Jean-Philippe Delhomme and Christina Zimpel respectively) to celebrate The Carlyle hotel's legendary Bemelmans murals.

Supper & Supping

In the spirit of its progenitor, the various dining venues at Carlyle & Co. seem to be accompanied by an august sense of occasion. The crux of the action happens at the brasserie, which (like any decent club restaurant in Hong Kong) serves a medley of Western, Chinese, and all-day delicacies. Here, the focus is on simply cooking the freshest produce the club can source -- various of the small plates are smoked, cured, or otherwise preserved in-house -- yet it's hardly the most theatrical outlet. That honour belongs to Café Carlyle, an intimate supper club intended as the local chapter of the eponymous tippling destination in New York. Members can expect this to be the repository of the club's live musical programming, which (consistent with the historic acts that have taken to the stage at the Carlyle hotel) will include an assortment of uniquely American artforms like jazz, funk, and blues.

Members craving a dose of sunshine can also take a selection of food and drink on the club's 55th-floor terrace, which (much like the Rosewood property at large) enjoys the sort of view that's conducive to sonnet writing or spontaneous tears of joy. Flanking one end of that terrace, you'll find the local chapter of Bemelmans Bar. Like its namesake, the menu here is split roughly equally between fine wines, punchbowls and classic cocktails; though, at the weekend, you can expect a certain frenetic atmosphere to take hold, as the space merges with the terrace for live DJ performances against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour.

Cosy quarters, brimming with personality

Though Carlyle & Co. members can easily book themselves into one of the 400-plus rooms at the surrounding Rosewood property, the entire 54th floor of the club is given over to eight themed suites -- all of which celebrate the history of The Carlyle hotel. More or less equal in size, each offers an inviting and distinctive interior personality. If you're retiring following an evening spent drinking (one too many) Martinis for instance, the 'Tommy' seems an apt choice -- named for and inspired by the legendary Bemelmans bartender Mr. Tommy Rowles. Other known personalities include Dorothy Draper, the original 'modern Baroque' decorator of The Carlyle's interiors; and Eartha Kitt, the renowned actress and Broadway musician. For dedicated students of café society, a stay in every single suite would seem like money well-spent.

A variety of membership packages are available at Carlyle & Co., with or without health club membership. To learn more about rates (or inquire about eligibility) visit Carlyle & Co. online.

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