The world outside might be on pause, but nature is having a renaissance. Though many are fretting and worrying at home, there is some comfort in the knowledge that nature continues soldiering on, no matter the circumstances.
Van Cleef & Arpels’ newest additions to its Frivole collection couldn’t be more timely. They’ve added eight luminous new creations to the line, which are resplendent with glittering corollas that promise to illuminate the skin with their precious, tender gleam — a reminder that nature continues to thrive, even in the hardest of times.
The piece that best encapsulates this spirit is the new Frivole 7-flower bracelet, which evokes nature’s vitality and diversity with a poetic combination of differently-sized corollas. Painstaking mirror polishing accentuates the gleam of the precious metal, whose yellow gold magnifies the heart-shaped petals unfurled around each open-worked diamond.
(Image: Van Cleef & Arpels)
Additionally, the Maison has also introduced several rose gold creations to the collection for the first time — seen to best effect on the Frivole earrings in rose gold, embellished by pink sapphires at their core. It’s a fresh, feminine palette that celebrates the warmth of nature.
And it’s not just flowers that the Maison is enthralled with — it is the very process of metamorphosis and asymmetry inherent in nature that they draw inspiration from. The secret watches which first debuted in the 1930s are an example of Van Cleef & Arpels’ taste for mystery and transformation: today, the tradition lives on in the Frivole Secrète watch.
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The Frivole Secrète watch.
(Image: Van Cleef & Arpels) -
The Between the Finger Ring.
(Image: Van Cleef & Arpels)
The Frivole Secrète watch presents an almost three-dimensional visage, hiding its diamond-paved dial beneath a delicately-pivoting, luminous bouquet. Beyond aesthetics, it brings with it a poignant message of time intertwined with nature.
The collection takes on a more subtle look with its white gold range, headlined as it is by the graceful Frivole 5-flower bracelet, which makes for an elegant embellishment for any wrist. It comes perfectly matched with the Between the Finger Ring, whose deliberate asymmetry channels the free-spiritedness of flowers in spring.
(Image: Van Cleef & Arpels)
It is precisely that free-spiritedness that inspired the two new transformable creations in the collection, which includes a clip pendant and a secret watch.
The Frivole clip pendant — with its three sparkling petals blooming around a heart of three diamonds — is a wonderfully oversized statement that can be worn on a white gold chain, as a brooch, or even in the hair. Meanwhile, the transformable Frivole Secrète watch brings with it a stunningly intricate watchface paved with diamonds, all concealing a discrete dial. Like its pendant counterpart, the watch can be transformed into a necklace or a brooch.
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Van Cleef & Arpels’ mirror-polishing technique gives each piece an unparalleled radiance.
(Image: Van Cleef & Arpels)
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Openwork allows more light to travel through each diamond.
(Image: Van Cleef & Arpels)
Throughout the collection, Van Cleef & Arpels utilised the Maison’s cherished mirror-polishing technique — each petal is hand-polished by skilled artisans to highlight the gleam of the precious metal, creating intense reflections. The technique is complemented by openwork — whereby the jeweller pierces the gold structure to enable light to pass through the stones — enhancing the amount of light that each piece brings with it.
The delicate motifs of the Frivole collection serve not only as beautiful accoutrements — but precious reminders that the winter will eventually thaw, and flowers will always bloom again.
To view the collection, visit Van Cleef & Arpels’ site here.