Gucci arrives in the world of high jewelery
Paris Fashion Week is traditionally the time chosen by major jewelery houses to present to the press and their best customers their most valuable collections. Collections composed of unique pieces. The main actors of this "haute joaillerie week" are well known: they have been the same for decades. For it is necessary to show a white paw, one does not introduce oneself with impunity in the seraglio. If only for financial reasons first: to build a collection of fine jewelry where each piece sells willingly half a million at least requires extravagant capital, a formidable know-how and an acute knowledge of the market. A risky bet that can not be improvised. Yet this year, a newcomer has tried the adventure, attracting all the attention and attention of the place to its peak: it is about Gucci.
The Italian brand, which presents each year in Bale in the spring, collections of fashion watches and costume jewelry has indeed decided, in its own way and with its own personality, to take the plunge and come play in the big leagues . This is the first time indeed that the house presents a complete collection of fine jewelry. Who says high jewelery says unique piece studded with remarkable stones. Hortus Deliciarum is the name of the collection, includes 200 pieces which is already an achievement in itself even if some are not unique. Everything started from the drawings of Alessandro Michele who himself found some stones. Yes, the artistic director of the fashion collections of the claw is also the designer of fine jewelry home. This is to our knowledge, a unique equation.
A baroque collection, a felted point of sale
The creator prodigy, true to his temperament, has imagined voluptuous pieces that combines rococo and baroque with a communicative jubilation. The Latin crosses with leonine motifs, the imposing rings with blazon, the tiares of young girls are recommended by their ornamental splendor. As a seasoned professional, the artistic director has highlighted a bestiary - keystone of any jewelry house that respects himself - where the lion is the king's share. He roars alongside tigers, Ouroboros snakes, newts and of course bees. The flora is not forgotten: flowers and leaves thrive on diamond mounts and hidden engravings.
The general look, it was felt, is proudly maximalist without being aggressively flashy. The bill is first class. It is reinforced by stones visibly chosen for the liveliness of their hues but also, and it is more singular in the world of high jewelry, for their spiritual properties "in reference to the lunar calendar of birthstones": alongside multicolored sapphires shine yellow beryls, Paraíba tourmalines, superb mandarin garnets, aquamarines, rubellites, spinels, topazes. This fireworks color honey, lavender, mandarin, neon pink, blue, yellow and purple develops a moving impression of joy and happiness. A few precious watches indicate the intention of the brand to weigh in the future of watchmaking.
To complete this moment of brilliance, the house inaugurated, the very day of this presentation, its first shop entirely devoted to high jewelery. To attest to the seriousness of his intentions, Gucci chose the place with care: Place Vendôme. The symbol, powerful, proves by the way that Paris remains in the eyes of connoisseurs, the world epicenter of jewelery. The shop, located at number 16, will surely surprise the admirers of the brand: they will not find here the original and saturated colors that are usually detached in other outlets of the brand. The 16 place Vendôme is delicately felted: the blackened wooden windows are decorated with water-green satin and antique mirrors. The floor develops an elegant monochrome mosaic made of black Maquina marble and white Thassos marble. The surface is modest but sufficient to exalt the universe of a new creative territory which, according to our first echoes, knew to touch the heart of a clientele in search of strong signatures, without a priori.
