Fashion week: the French houses

Here I am again after almost three weeks of absence. Fashion week and several articles to write for different magazines have taken up a lot of my time. But I’m back to share with you my discoveries of this week which turned out to be exciting. The big French houses, admittedly in the minority now in front of the growing number of foreign houses, were able to present extremely complete collections with settings that I won’t forget. This year again, the “creation” departments set the bar high and demanded real prowess from the workshops. As shown by, among others, the GemDior collection that I will not represent in this article. So, I invite you to follow me in my scintillating wanderings at Boucheron, Chanel, Chaumet, Van Cleef & Arpels, Lydia Courteille, Goralska, Cartier or even Messika and Reza…

1- Boucheron

With the collection “Paris vu du 26”, the Boucheron house celebrates the Parisian monuments and imagines a world seen from the new flat located on the top floor of the private mansion – the Hôtel de Nocé – that it occupies on the Place Vendôme and whose important transformations I presented to you. The collection brings together more than 70 pieces freely inspired by the city’s architectural perspectives. The result is astonishing and truly successful. A way of telling us that everything is more beautiful seen from the 26, it seems that it is true!

The 26V ring in white gold and titanium, diamonds, onyx, cacholong and rock crystal. The centre is a 4.08 ct F VVS2 diamond. The ring is inspired by the Place Vendôme from the sky. Photo: Boucheron

White gold and freshwater pearl long necklace. It is set with diamonds including a 1.58 carat F VVS2 centre. It is inspired by the acanthus leaf motif seen on many Parisian monuments. Photo : Boucheron

Yellow gold, diamond and sculpted rock crystal bracelet. This bracelet is inspired by the horses that adorn the Paris Opera House. Photo: Boucheron

Earrings in white gold and titanium, diamonds and emeralds. They are freely inspired by the glass roofs of the Grand Palais. Photo: Boucheron

With this single earring, the house imagines the presence of a parrot in its winter garden. Here is Nuri, a jewel made of gold, titanium, aquamarines, heliodore, coloured sapphires and diamonds. Photo : Boucheron

Inspired by the perspective of the Place Vendôme, this gold and rock crystal ring is adorned with a 13.76-carat heliodore. Photo: Boucheron

2- Cartier

This year, the house did not choose Paris and presented its novelties at a London event where about 1/3 of the final collection was visible. In Paris, we could only see 6 sets. With Magnitude, the house chose to use really surprising contrasts of colours and materials for a surprising and successful result. Hence a certain disappointment at having only a few visuals of this new opus. Anyway, here are some pictures to present you the main thread of Magnitude.

Sorelli watch in white gold, diamonds and rutilated quartz. Photo : Cartier

Yuna ring in white gold and yellow and colourless diamonds. I’ll let you admire the two stones which show particularly interesting growth phenomena. Photo : Cartier

Zemia bracelet in white gold, sapphires, garnets, diamonds and a 77.27-carat Australian matrix opal centre. Photo: Cartier

The Equinoxe necklace in yellow gold, diamonds, sapphires and lapis lazuli. Photo: Cartier

3- Chanel

For this new high jewellery collection, the house proposed a fairytale walk in Russia inspired by Coco Chanel’s memories. Ernest Beaux, a perfumer at the court of the Tsars, imagined the revolutionary formula of N°5 for her; her fashion, for its part, took on Russian accents. Behind this change, an elegant and discreet figure emerges, that of the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch, a seductive young man with clear eyes, cousin of Tsar Nicolas II, whom Chanel had known since 1911 and met in Biarritz in 1920. They will have an intense and brief affair. The fallen hero of one of the most sumptuous courts in Europe, he discovered a world of patterns and shapes that resonated strongly with her. Patrice Léguereau, director of the company’s design studio, has therefore proposed more than 60 pieces based on this theme and it is a great success.

MÉDAILLE SOLAIRE ring in white gold, yellow gold, platinum, yellow diamond and white diamond. Photo: Chanel Joaillerie

FOLKLORE bracelet in white gold, yellow gold, enamel, blue sapphires, pink sapphires, Mandarin and tsavorite garnets, cultured pearls and diamonds. Photo : Chanel Joaillerie

ROUBACHKA necklace in yellow gold, platinum, yellow and white diamonds. Photo: Chanel Joaillerie

BLÉ MARIA brooch in yellow gold, white gold, yellow sapphire, pink spinels, Mandarin garnets, coloured tourmalines and diamonds. Photo : Chanel Joaillerie

4- Chaumet

For its latest collection, Claire Devé-Rakoff and the design studio worked on the sky. Although the theme is present in the house’s archives, it is not a common one. The new collection, with more than 80 pieces, is structured around different chapters highlighting stars, birds, storms, the sun, clouds and comets. As if to remind us that the sky is the place of a multitude of phenomena and that jewellers can find an endless source of inspiration there. This is perhaps my favourite collection of the fashion week. Very different from the other collections of the house, it demonstrates its ability to transform and renew itself constantly. So a big congratulations!