This year’s high jewellery season started a little earlier than expected and several houses decided to present their new collections well before Paris Fashion Week: Cartier chose London, Bulgari inaugurated its collection in Capri and Dior invited its clients and a select few to Venice for a particularly lavish event. All of this was done to reveal in a grandiose way the latest high jewellery collection of the house, soberly entitled GemDior. Intended as an echo of Dior J’adore, this new opus celebrates Victoire de Castellane ‘s twentieth anniversary as head of the house’s Artistic Direction. With a certain success.
Yellow gold, diamond and emerald earrings. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
Yellow gold, diamond and yellow sapphire ring. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
The GemDior collection consists of 99 pieces and is in itself a record for the house, which has created its largest collection in the twenty years of existence of the jewellery department. The programme is based on two main themes, with monochrome and polychrome pieces that bring back to life a technique that has been somewhat forgotten in today’s jewellery: the chahuté of chatons. Rings, hand and wrist bracelets or necklaces composed of a series of bezels welded together in an architectural manner, giving the impression of a certain anarchy, but whose creation required patience and mastery from the Parisian workshops called upon for the occasion.
White gold and diamond ring. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
Earrings in pink gold, sapphires (blue, pink, yellow), rubies, aquamarines, emeralds, spinel and diamonds. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
Yellow, white and red gold are set with multiple colour combinations including diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires but also spinels, tanzanites, paraiba tourmalines, rubellites and garnets. Most of the pieces are therefore unique, the juxtapositions of gems give a very special look to the collection and required a lot of thought in the workshops. The manufacture of each piece required constant back and forth between the jewellers, the polishers and the setters to ensure that the pieces were perfectly made. A collection that required meticulous work and long hours to complete each piece. As the company states:“The raw appearance with its worked irregularity of the collection underlines all the more the extraordinary mastery of the Haute Joaillerie workshops.” We can only agree.
Ring in pink gold, sapphires (blue, pink, yellow), rubies, aquamarines, emeralds, spinel and diamonds. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
White gold, diamond and emerald ring. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
Beyond the technical challenge remains the aesthetic question. The pieces are certainly very beautiful but we would have liked to see more diversity in the collection. The colours change but overall the models remain quite similar. This is perhaps what disappoints me a little because I expect a form of spectacle in a high jewellery collection. This new opus is designed for the connoisseurs and collectors of the house, they will appreciate the mastery and the know-how that was necessary to create these extremely difficult pieces. But I am already curious about the 21st year of Victoire de Castellane, which will come soon enough!
White gold, diamond and paraiba tourmaline ring. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
Double ring in yellow gold, diamonds, emeralds and tsavorite garnets. Photo: Dior Joaillerie
See you soon!
Cover photo: Yellow gold, blue and yellow sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and tsavorite garnets ring.
