. Our correspondent Jillian Tangen has filed her report. These are our picks for the best of the high jewelry collections from Paris spring summer 2021, including Chanel, Van Cleefs, Boucheron, DeBeers and more. And if you hurry, surely you can find something splendid from one of these haute joaillerie houses as a Valentine’s Day 2021 gift. Just sayin’.
what is there to see from the high jewelry shows in Paris for spring summer 2021?
Twice a year, right after the haute couture shows in Paris have finished, another kind of dazzling show unfolds. One that consists of the unveiling of the latest and most sparkling collections from the world’s foremost heritage jewelry brands.
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While the January haute joaillerie launches tend to be fewer in number and less extravagant than those in July, there was no shortage of gorgeous new jewels to see. Like the July 2020 High Jewelry shows before them, jewelers opted to reveal their magnificent gems and jewels virtually. And despite that, the jewels did what they do best: gleaming and glittering.
See High Jewelry You’ll Love Best from Paris Spring 2021.
the themes of this season’s high jewelry collections
While the shows might have gone virtual this season, the incredible creativity and craftsmanship on display was real. Chanel drew on the architecture and culture of Venice. Van Cleef & Arpels looked to the heavens and explored the cosmos. DeBeers took cues from nature, while Boucheron paid homage to Art Deco. In a new move, this house collection was explicitly marketed as gender-neutral.
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And even if you can’t be in the market for one of these magnificent pieces, these are intricate works of art that are just lovely to dream over. Just think of it – each piece of high jewelry is one-of-a-kind. Some take up to 12 months to create. They’re brilliant examples of craftsmanship, certainly on par with the fabulous gowns shown in Paris just before they were unveiled. And they are SO. PRETTY.
So come along, dear reader. Let’s open the fine jewelry box and see what’s inside.
the best of the high jewelry collections from Paris spring summer 2021
1. chanel haute joaillerie
Chanel’s high jewelry collections often reference Gabrielle Chanel. This season one of the house founder’s favorite cities, Venice, served as the inspiration. The collection is divided into 4 lines: Sérénissime, Gran Canale, Isole della Laguna and Spirito di Venezia.
The 70-piece Escale à Venise is a love letter to the floating city’s architectural and cultural details.
The best of the high jewelry collections from Paris spring summer 2021. Courtesy Photos.
For instance, the Volute Vénitienne and Volute Croisière pieces in Gran Canale offer a playful celebration of the mooring poles used by the gondolas. Striped in white and blue or red, they’re playful and dazzling. Meanwhile, another piece echos the Byzantine mosaic that serves as the backdrop for the golden Lion of St. Mark’s. It sits high above the entrance to Venice’s basilica, and appears on the Constellation Astrale articulated bib necklace. Two layers of lapis lazuli are meshed, yet look like free-floating fragments. It’s as if part of the basilica’s pediment had been broken off and set with diamonds. And a 4.47-carat yellow Ceylon sapphire mounted into a stylized star.
And no Chanel collection would be complete without the camellia. In this latest collection, the motif synonymous with the Chanel brand has been reimagined. The bloom is rendered in monochromatic Baroque, golden Venetian and colorful Byzantine.
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2. van cleef & arpels haute joaillerie
Looking to the sky for its latest high jewelry collection, Sous Les Étoiles from Van Cleef & Arpels combines age-old celestial motifs with the latest in 21st century astrophysics. From the Milky Way to comets, via the planets and stars of the solar system, 150 new creations evoke with their exceptional gems the celestial wonders in their multiple forms.
The best of the high jewelry haute joaillerie collections from Paris spring 2021, including Chanel, Van Cleefs, Boucheron, DeBeers and more.
The Halley Necklace conjures up the passage of Halley’s Comet across a starry sky using an 11.29 carat pear-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond in flight, its movement accentuated through slashes of yellow gold against a palette of white and yellow diamonds. The Saturn clip draws inspiration from the ’60s and the decade’s obsession with a moon landing. It features rings of diamonds, a circle a half-sphere of hammered yellow gold, with threads of yellow gold under the rings bringing the piece to life.
Likewise the colorful Cepheid necklace recreates the halo effect seen in space photography today with two-tone tanzanites, mauve sapphires and tsavorite garnets surrounding cabochon-cut lilac chalcedonies to evoke a Cepheid, a type of star that pulsates radially.
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the best of the Paris haute couture shows for spring summer 2021
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3. debeers haute joaillerie
De Beers presented its first high jewelry collection under the direction of Céline Assimon, the former chief executive at de Grisogono who took maison’s the top spot in August. Inspired by the landscapes of the brand’s history, Reflections of Nature has 5 distinct collections using diamonds that are aligned with De Beers’ ethics and sustainability initiatives.
The best of the high jewelry haute joaillerie collections from Paris spring 2021, including Chanel, Van Cleefs, Boucheron, DeBeers and more.
Highlights include the glittering 5.44-carat Okavango Grace Ring that replicates the shimmering water found on the wetlands of the Okavango Delta and the 26.98 carat Motlatse Marvel bracelet which takes the sun and subtropical scenery of the South African Motlatse Canyon as its main motif.
Reflecting the dramatic hues and curves of sand dunes, the Namib Wonder Necklace pays tribute to the oldest desert on earth. Round brilliant pavé diamonds in dreamy hues of yellow and white punctuate the design, dramatically alluding to the texture of the desert’s glowing sands.
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4. boucheron haute joaillerie
The extensive archives of Bucheron provided the inspiration for creative director Claire Choisne’s new collection, A History of Style. The collection looks back to the Art Deco period. The aim is rethinking the sleek lines and monochromatic palette synonymous with the jewels of the 1920s. And exploring the duality of gender.
The best of the high jewelry haute joaillerie collections from Paris spring 2021, including Chanel, Van Cleefs, Boucheron, DeBeers and more.
All genders can wear almost all of these pieces, in multiple ways. For example, the Cravate Emerald necklace can also be a tie. It nods to both the relaxed silhouettes of the flapper years and the masculine style of the chic Parisienne. Owners can detach the onyx, black lacquer and emerald central motif of the necklace and wear it as a brooch. Elsewhere the customer for a Bow Tie striped in white diamonds and black lacquer can pin it in their hair. Or wear the piece as a brooch or a ring.
Another standout piece is the Plastron Emerald strand with more than 220 emerald beads. A famous necklace Boucheron created for the Maharajah of Patiala in 1928 is the inspiration for the necklace. The new design is somewhat more contemporary. It’s also more flexible: the owner is free to wear it as a necklace, two bracelets or a choker.
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5. other notables in haute joaillerie spring summer 2021
Cartier presented a small extension of the [Sur]naturel collection that was unveiled last July. One of the highlights was a pendant necklace in diamonds, onyx, emeralds and a 7.27-carat fancy-cut emerald. The stone is from Ethiopia, and can be removed and worn as a fully articulated shield ring.
The best of the high jewelry haute joaillerie collections from Paris spring 2021, including Chanel, Van Cleefs, Boucheron, DeBeers and more.
In March Louis Vuitton will introduce a bespoke high jewelry option inspired by the Art Deco period. Also in March, Dior intends to reveal it’s latest 54 piece collection, RoseDior, as a nod to Christian Dior’s passion for gardening. And this spring, Repossi will present its first high jewelry collection co-designed by Gaia Repossi and the brand’s studio director, Matthias Schneider.
the best of the high jewelry collections from Paris spring summer 2021
There you have it, our roundup of the best of the high jewelry haute joaillerie collections from Paris spring summer 2021, including Chanel, Van Cleefs, Boucheron, DeBeers and more.
Which piece is your favorite? We loved them all – but if we had to choose, we might pick the stunning Halley Necklace from Van Cleef. Or Boucheron’s inventive Bow Tie ring, clip and pendant. Cupid, do you hear us? Anyone? Hello? Honey, you’re reading this, right? Hey, a girl can dream.
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For access to insider ideas and information on the world of luxury, sign up for our Dandelion Chandelier Newsletter here. And see luxury in a new light.
Jillian Tangen is the Head of Research at Dandelion Chandelier and a former Senior Research Analyst at McKinsey & Co and Analyst at Shearman & Sterling. She is an avid fan of Nordic design, having owned an independent lifestyle store and sales agency focused on emerging Scandinavian design. Jillian lives in New York and is married with three young children. She loves cross-country skiing, the New York Rangers, reading, travel and discovering new brands.
