The high jewellery presentations in January offer the perfect opportunity to see what gorgeous new trends are bubbling away in the design studios of Paris and London. Will we be wearing diamonds in our hair; what colour diamonds; are rings the thing and what about the cuts? There was so much creativity to admire.
Designers continually explore new ways to wear diamonds and Chaumet, Dior and Boucheron all displayed them twinkling in the hair as feathery tiaras and sparkling hair slides. Asymmetry remains a trend with an intriguing avant- garde design in Repossi’s Serti Sur Vide collection which presents a slender pear-shaped diamond or emerald levitating away from the ring band in a setting they call Eiffel Tower that is worn off-centre. Asymmetry is also an alluring element of Graff and Dior’s new Délicat pieces, creating pleasing uneven shapes especially for earrings featuring yellow and white diamonds.
Fancy yellow diamonds are appreciating in value with many high-end brands creating collections around them, notably Graff who has some stunning necklaces in the most intense hues. Similarly, Dior,David Morris and Messika are progressively showcasing vibrant yellows as centre stones: “We predict a real interest for yellow-coloured diamonds in general for the next few years,” foresees Valerie Messika, whose Midnight Sun collection includes some standout yellow diamonds. “Our white diamonds are still the best-seller, but consumers are more and more aware of coloured diamonds.”
Mixing a variety of cuts in one glorious diamond piece is another fashionable new twist, adding intrigue and complexity to a design. Pear and oval shapes are in vogue, but they are being joined in settings for necklaces and bracelets by marquise, baguette and emerald cuts. Louis Vuitton has added a unique monogram flower cut diamond to its repertoire, nestling at the heart of many of its jewels along with other interesting shapes like a trillion to highlight the ‘V’ of the logo.
In London, David Morris’s emerald and diamond Mosaico necklace mixes square, emerald and baguette stones that are set in a crisscross pattern for a geometric effect. Meanwhile, Hirsh is smitten with the kite shape which it is using for earrings, “which look particularly lovely for evening,” notes Sophia Hirsh who is now working on pieces that mingle various fancy cuts like pear, round, baquette and marquise on hoops and bangles. “There has been a particular interest in square and emerald cuts, I think because of their clean lines,” she says.
Valerie Messika is receiving a similar reaction: Messika is known “for the strength and variety of its fancy-cut diamond obering and we sell more fancy-cut diamonds than round diamonds, even though round diamonds normally represent 70% of the market demand for engagement rings,” she says. An illustration of the willingness clients have to experiment with new looks.
