Boucheron
From the Maharajah of Patiala’s order from 1928, still the largest special order in the history of Place Vendôme, comes Boucheron’s new 14-piece Histoire de Style New Maharajahs high jewellery collection.
Composed of five sets — New Maharajah, New Maharani, New Padma, New Churiyans and New Sarpech — largely adorned with white diamonds, pearls and rock crystal, many of these unisex designs are transformable, perpetuating the multi-wear aesthetic Boucheron is known for.
The collection’s pièce de resistance is the New Maharajah necklace, made in platinum and set with diamonds, rock crystal drops and emeralds. It features an elaborate central motif comprising nine large cushion-cut Colombian emeralds of almost 40cts that can be detached and worn separately as a brooch.
Other highlights include the New Padma Nacre asymmetrical earrings, as well as the New Churiyans bracelets. The former comprises a stud and a sculptural ear cuff made of gold beads, diamonds and carved pearl drops while the latter is a modern tribute to traditional Indian churiyan bangles worn by Indian women after marriage. Sold as a stack of 10 white gold bangles adorned with diamonds, pearls and mother-of-pearl, they are presented with a wooden bobbin inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Cartier
Led purely by intuition, Cartier continues to push the boundaries of jewellery making even further with new additions to its Sixième Sens Par Cartier collection. Designed using trompe-l’oeil techniques, each piece is a daring experiment in light, symmetry, proportions and texture.
Take the Synésthesie Necklace for example, a shockingly bold collier that flips the switch on conventional jewellery design with its unusual combination of emeralds with turquoise.
Held together by a supple gold latticework interspersed with diamonds is a step-cut 35.47-ct Colombian emerald ensconced in a turquoise and diamond pendant that can be removed and worn separately as a brooch.
There is also the Victorienne necklace that has been designed to drape over the shoulders like fabric. Inspired by a creation from the past that was presented at the International Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in 1925, it comprises a graphic arrangement of diamonds, emeralds and black lacquer.
Featured prominently in the middle are two hexagonal-cut diamonds weighing more than nine carats, as well as a Colombian cabochon-cut emerald of more than 16 cts.
Chaumet
Chaumet’s dazzling Torsade de Chaumet expands with a new capsule collection inspired by water, one of the house’s most enduring inspirations. Christened Déferlante, the eight-piece parure evokes different forms of water: as a cascading waterfall, rainfall, scintillating dew drops or frozen stalactites.
Set with only diamonds, these pieces bear distinctive Chaumet trademarks like the tiara, secret watch and transformable jewel.
In the transformable ring, a large emerald-cut 6.05 ct F VVS1 diamond demands for attention. A removable diamond-set attachment shaped like a wave motif can be added for maximum drama.
Anchoring the collection is the Déferlante tiara, which perpetuates the house’s expertise in head jewellery. This time, Chaumet has done away with all the pomp and regale surrounding tiaras to come up with an elegant and airy design for today’s modern women.
Fashioned from white gold, it features a complex stone setting with 1600 brilliant-cut and step-cut diamonds.
Chopard
Chopard’s new collection is all about reaffirming its status as an authority in gemstones. Its 20-year journey as a high jeweller has been punctuated by several remarkable milestones, the most memorable being the Garden of Kalahari from 2017.
The six-piece diamond extravaganza was designed from a single and exceptionally pure 342-ct rough diamond that the brand acquired in 2015.
For this new Exceptional Stones collection, co-president Caroline Scheufele cuts away the superfluous to focus on only the gemstones. Among an impressive assortment of precious rocks are a 10.88-ct fancy intense pink diamond, a 4.22-ct fancy intense blue diamond, a 31.31-ct fancy dark grey-greenish yellow diamond and a 21.04-ct cushion-cut unheated Ceylon sapphire.
Chopard also announced the acquisition of a 6225 ct Zambian emerald rough that weighs a whopping 1.22kg. Christened the Chopard Insofu emerald, it will eventually be cut into smaller stones to form a capsule collection.
Dior Joaillerie
Dior turns to couture for inspiration in its latest high jewellery collection Galons Dior, comprising 81 pieces of jewellery inspired by galons, oversized decorative ribbons used on haute couture outfits. Expect to see intricate diamond-set trimmings mixed with gem-studded gold ribbons that intertwine delicately.
Working on a bicolour palette, Dior has suffused the collection with diamonds interspersed with coloured stones such as Zambian emeralds, Mozambique rubies, Madagascar and Sri Lankan sapphires.
In the Galons Dior bracelet for example, a scallop edge with prong set diamonds drapes across a diamond band on which sits a pink spinel.
One of the most significant pieces is a necklace featuring braids of platinum, gold and mixed-cut diamonds that entangle and suspend on the neck in harmonious balance. The Parisian maison has, in an unprecedented move, also added brooches and cufflinks for men to the collection.
Louis Vuitton
Grand plans are underway for the bicentenary celebrations of Mr Louis Vuitton’s birth in 1821. After unveiling the first chapter of Bravery in 2021, a 90-piece high jewellery collection that metaphorically charts Vuitton’s life chronologically, the maison continues with Bravery Chapter II.
Made up of 20 scintillating designs that are divided into four themes, it revolves around its founder’s greatest creation: the trunk and its iconic features. Set with a marvellous assortment of diamonds and colourful rare gemstones, the locks, studs, and clasps lend their timeless appeal to these new additions.
On Le Multipin necklace, more than 100 pink and green tourmalines, yellow citrines, blue aquamarines and violet tanzanites weighing some 100 cts, come together to illuminate a 42.42 ct lagoon blue tourmaline. Completely surrounded by diamonds of varying sizes, it offers an opulent interpretation of the Louis Vuitton trunk closure.
In La Mini Malle, a diamond chain link necklace and three Mini Malles (each one highlighted with a LV Monogram Star-cut diamond) – offers the most glamorous interpretation of the trunk, Louis Vuitton’s greatest invention.