A new year means we’re back to kickstarting a typical grey February with a round-up of this season’s newest and brightest high jewellery collections that were unveiled during Paris Couture last week. From brooches taking over, to nature being a constant thread throughout the maisons, here are the standout creations...
Boucheron
It’s always a privilege to see inside the mind of Boucheron’s creative director Claire Choisne, who this time nodded to the ivy and cyclamen that inspired Frédéric Boucheron’s first collection in 1858, along with archival pieces depicting butterflies, bees, and dragonflies. Choisne has brought a fresh perspective with Boucheron’s Untamed Nature collection, which offers literal translations of flora and fauna in precious metals and stones.
Key pieces include Chardon, a diamond and white gold thistle necklace that wraps around the neck and Fuschia, an intricate brooch and pendant earring set featuring two pear-cut diamonds. There is an incredible moth brooch, which renders the insect’s wings in engraved white and grey mother-of-pearl, allowing it to be completely transparent, fringed with baguette diamonds. And as always with a true Choisne twist, most pieces are transformable, with a brooch, for example, that can also be turned into a hair jewel - a real two for one.
GRAFF
This January, Graff chose to reveal its latest high jewellery masterpiece, The Gift of Love. This necklace, three years in the making, features a 125 carats of Graff’s signature diamonds and stands as a testament to the house’s exceptional artistry and innovation. The silhouette of the necklace mimics a sweep of a feather, with over 2,300 white diamonds in cuts of pear, baguettes, and round brilliants. It also features a stunning 13.51-carat Fancy Intense Yellow pear-shaped diamond, held by one of two delicate sparrows in its onyx beak. The bird, perched elegantly, dazzles with sapphire eyes, while its partner, mid-flight, stretches its diamond-encrusted wings skyward. This extraordinary creation continues Graff’s legacy of innovation and celebrates nature’s elegance, a muse for the house for over 65 years.
De Beers
In this first chapter in a new series of high jewellery collections, De Beers also leans into the natural world. Its Essence of Nature collection showcased 13 original designs woven into a three-set story: Embrace, Interlace and Foundation. Embrace takes an abstract approach to tree roots channelled via rough green diamonds. Some of the rarest naturally-found stones, seen across a necklace, bracelet, ring and earrings, these are juxtaposed with brilliant polished white diamonds, a De Beers staple. White and yellow diamonds take centre stage in both the polished and rough forms in Interlace, giving sculptural shapes which recall the winding forms of creeper plants. Finally, the three-piece Foundation set returns to green diamonds, this time in polished Fancy Green, in an ode to the canopies of ancient forests. One necklace has a double-row of diamonds, an incredibly rare Fancy Deep Greyish Green diamond, and a 2.15 carat Fancy Yellow Green diamond flanked by a detachable brilliant-cut diamond jacket for truly the ultimate in day-to-night style.
Cartier
Cartier debuted Chapter llI the final chapter of its Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection, an homage to a bejewelled animal kingdom and the house’s most storied motifs. Highlights include the spectacular Tiger Necklace, designed to give the illusion of the animal wrapping about the wearer’s neck. The coat is made up of yellow, orange brown and white diamonds. Its spots are from onyx, and eyes emeralds.
See the best standout jewellery from the red carpet here.