Celebrity Life

Peggy Chan is fundraising for her first cookbook, titled Provenance, with most of the proceeds going to her next impact-venture. We speak with the chef, restaurateur and environmental activist to learn more.

Times of trouble may pose a setback on certain goals we have in life, but it could also pose an opportunity to accelerate lifelong dreams that we hadn't prioritised in the past. More time at home and a slowdown in business have caused many business owners to rethink their strategies and use this unprecedented time of change to try new things.

That's sort of where Peggy Chan was, just before the turn of the new year, when she started a Kickststarter campaign to support the launch of her debut cookbook, Provenance.

As the name of the cookbook suggests, it's all about going back to the roots. Based on principles of plant-based cookery, Provance will be filled with memoirs and recipes for both the homecook and professionals. Readers can learn to recreate tried and tested recipes from Chan's restaurants, Grassroots Pantry and Nectar. They will also be educated on our existing food systems and informed of the impact of our daily decisions.

"Provenance is more than just a cookbook. It's a culmination of everything we at Grassroots have done, packaged as a memoir and a guide to help you proactively participate in climate action," writes Chan on Kickstarter. "This means showing you the ropes to how you can also source and cook delicious plant-based dishes at home, that takes our health and our planet's health into consideration."

Going beyond the Provenance cookbook

Supporters of the Kickstarter campaign will receive a copy of the Provenance cookbook, either in digital or hard copy format, if the campaign is fully funded by February 24, 2021. But the campaign goes beyond supporting just the cookbook. A major part of the proceeds actually goes towards Chan's next impact-venture called Zero Foodprint Asia. It is set to be the first Asian outpost of an NGO started by restaurateurs Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz in 2015 that looks at food systems as the starting point for change.

Chan tells me she met the couple in 2018 in the United States and they remained in touch. It was Chan's dream to expand their initiative to Hong Kong, and the pandemic has presented just the opportunity to do it.

"The pandemic has exposed the fragility of our food systems," Chan says. "But it has also demonstrated that businesses and people are ready to build back better. We are given a chance to change the way we produce and consume food."

The events of 2019 and hardships from 2020 had forced Chan to make the difficult decision to close Nectar in 2020. As upsetting as the decision was for her, she acknowledged that it just wasn't a sustainable way to operate. But activism was as much part of Chan's DNA as being a restaurateur, and with the close of her restaurant, she's channeled all her efforts (with the support of her husband) into doing something more impactful to the wider food network.

Chan has no intention of operating another restaurant in the near future, she tells me. But that hasn't stopped her from doing brief stints and working with other chefs. In January, she did a limited-edition burger for Leaves and Liberty. For now, all her focus is on change on a higher level. There are a lot more projects forthcoming. Right now, it's to get Zero Foodprint Asia and Provenance off the ground.

Click here to head over to the Provenance cookbook Kickstarter page.

The post Peggy Chan’s Provenance Cookbook is Just the Beginning 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.

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