Boucheron necklace titled Just an Illusion.
Photo: Courtesy of Boucheron
9 of the Most Extraordinary New High Jewelry Pieces This Season
Shown at Paris Hate Couture week as well as one-off presentations in Lake Como, Rome, and Venice, the latest pieces are a riotous feast of color, rare stones, and meticulous craftsmanship
This summer, the high jewelry presentations looked a little different, with many of the biggest luxury houses including Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Van Cleef & Arpels jetting off to exotic locations such as Lake Como and Venice to present their latest pieces in elaborate, multi-day extravaganzas. Other major houses, like Boucheron, Buccellati, and De Beers chose to stick with the time-honored tradition of presenting at Haute Couture week in Paris, which took place from July 3–7. No matter the location, each brand reached for the stars in terms of imagination, presenting dazzling new pieces that reflected creative prowess, meticulous craftsmanship, and the rarest of stones.
Below, Galerie rounds up the most eye-catching pieces of the season.
Metamorphosis ring by De Beers. Photo: Courtesy of De Beers
1. De Beers Metamorphosis Chapter Two
Building upon Metamorphosis, the magnificent collection launched earlier this year which celebrates the transformative power of natural diamonds, De Beers has now launched a second installment in Paris. In Chapter Two, four magnificent butterflies arise from cocoons, each representing a new season, with four sets comprising 37 new pieces. “With Prelude, we wanted to tell the story of a magical transformation,” says Celine Assimon, the CEO of De Beers. “In Chapter Two, we continue this poetic ode to the beauty of nature’s constant evolution. I am so proud of the daring designs. We’ve experimented with bold volumes, graphic motifs, and hidden details. There is exceptional craftsmanship, but it is also wearable and fun.”
Ana Khouri White Diamond Necklace with Rubellite. Photo: Ana Khouri
2. Ana Khouri
New York jeweler Ana Khouri caused a stir in Paris when she revealed her latest creations at Christie’s during Haute Couture week. The new pieces pushed the boundaries of her practice, propelling her jewels further into the world of art and sculpture, as well as reaching new heights with the rarity and size of the precious stones used. This necklace featuring gold, diamonds, and a dramatic rubellite that seems to gently hover above, is a perfect example.
Van Cleef & Arpels Ninfe necklace with rose gold, white gold, one cushion-cut rubellite weighing 24.02 carats, two oval-cut rubellites weighing 12.44 and 11.52 carats, pink sapphires, rubies, spessartite garnets, pink and angel-skin coral, diamonds. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels
3. Van Cleef & Arpels Grand Tour
A highlight of Haute Couture Week in Paris was Van Cleef & Arpels’ unveiling of its latest high jewelry collection comprising 70 pieces. Titled Le Grand Tour, it pays tribute to the age old idea of traveling for art and education, a tradition that began in England in the 16th century and reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries, inspiring young aristocrats to bring home souvenirs such as cameos from Naples or rare antiquities from Pompeii, informing a young person’s cultural education and artistic taste.
David Yurman Genesis earrings. Photo: Courtesy of David Yurman
4. David Yurman Genesis
Iconic American jewelry brand David Yurman launched DY Genesis in Paris, which was designed by president and chief creative officer Evan Yurman, David Yurman’s son. It is inspired by the endless beauty of the natural world, transforming natural forms like flowers and coral into to jeweled masterpieces. These Couture Dianthus earrings recall the movement of the sea, with sculptural 18-karat gold and anodized aluminum and 28-carat South African green beryls.
Boucheron Do Not Iron Brooch. Photo: Courtesy of Boucheron
5. Boucheron
Creative director of Boucheron Claire Choisne, a 2021 Galerie Creative Mind, is an artistic visionary, proving that high jewelry can be precious and rare but never predictable. Her new collection, “Carte Blanche, More is More,” is a case in point, as she pushes the limits of jewelry design with exaggerated proportions, dazzling colors, and optical illusions inspired by pop art and Memphis in particular. Much of the collection was inspired by simple everyday objects she had around her during the strict 2020 pandemic lockdowns. A highlight is a series of high school iron on transformed into precious jewelry brooches, a playful mix of high and low.
Buccellati necklace. Photo: Courtesy of Buccellati
6. Buccellati
The celebrated Milan-based jewelry house Buccellati presented its new Mosaico’jewelry collection during Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris. Comprising 50 pieces, the collection is inspired by some iconic archival designs crafted by founder Mario Buccellati in the 1920s, reimagined with modern shapes and patterns. The pieces, which range from bib necklaces to rings and pendant earrings, also pay homage to the glass paste tesserae of Byzantine-era mosaics. This extraordinary Bib-necklace is composed of white gold elements set with diamond and a diamond rivière in yellow gold set with sapphires and emeralds, and white gold elements set with diamonds.
Piaget watch. Photo: Courtesy of Piaget
7. Piaget Metaphoria
Metaphoria by Swiss luxury jeweler Piaget is an ode to the endless beauty and power of nature. The collection of 28 pieces expresses the long heritage and expertise in goldsmithing and gem-setting, inspired by the brand’s birthplace, La Côte aux Fées, Switzerland, as well as the sun, sky and brilliance of the Côte d’Azur, with dazzling fluid forms that recall the flow of a waterfall and the rays of the sun.
A necklace from Louis Vuitton Deep Time Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
8. Louis Vuitton Deep Time
For her bold fifth collection for the maison, artistic director for watches and jewelry at Louis Vuitton Francesca Amfitheatrof was inspired by the prehistory of our planet: its tectonic convulsions, volcanic eruptions, and oceanic inundations. The maison’s largest high jewelry collection to date, it was presented in Greece in June and features 170 unique pieces—including 95 in the first chapter alone—and a record number of precious stones. “At Louis Vuitton we are as ever adventurers, traveling to extraordinary, unexpected places,” she says. “Deep Time will transport you deeply into the past, to a time and place that is so remote and perhaps even difficult to comprehend. But at the same time, the stones—these treasures that span millennia—will bring you right there.”
Gucci Allegoria earrings. Photo: Courtesy of Gucci
9. Gucci Allegoria
The natural changing colors of the four seasons are the inspiration behind Gucci’s latest high jewelry collection, titled Allegoria. Unveiled in Florence in early June, this is the brand’s fourth high jewelry collection, and it captures nature’s glorious transformations. Spring, for example is all about the early blooms and stirrings of life, while summer embraces bold, saturated hues with emeralds, spinels and paraíba tourmalines.
Cover: Boucheron necklace titled Just an Illusion.
Photo: Courtesy of Boucheron
