Forget the gowns – why the real spending power at haute couture is on jewels
telegraph.co.ukhaute couture week in Paris and the crowd outside the Valentino show entrance on Place Vendome is a fashion one, capital F. People are dressed to be photographed and the mood is high and joyous.
It’s a bit of a contrast to the other, quieter side of couture I come for – the high jewellery, which is shown surrounded by guards and behind heavy doors.Boucheron, Chaumet, Chopard, De Beers, and Dior were on the official schedule, with Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Piaget, Fawaz Gruosi and Cindy Chao showing new high jewels also - a category defined not just by high prices but rare materials, complicated craftsmanship, and sometimes thousands of hours in the making.First to De Beers, that showed two wildly different ranges – the first, Atomique, an interpretation of a diamond’s molecular structure, all white, round brilliants connected with straight lines in major collars, asymmetrical rings and giant studs.
One necklace sports a whopping internally flawless diamond of over 18 carats, but somehow looks more retro-futuristic and spacy than de trop.
The second collection, Light Rays, relies on coloured diamonds and variously textured anodised titanium to create rays, many of them articulated to shimmy with movement.
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