In the world of high jewelry, each item is much more than just a piece of jewelry; it embodies the quest for perfection, a delicate balance between creativity, craftsmanship and emotion. During Paris Fashion Week, the most prestigious houses unveiled collections in which the mastery of shapes, materials and colors reached new heights. Immersed in a whirlwind of light and poetry, the creations transcend trends to celebrate a subtle balance between nature, art and jewelry.
In its En Equilibre collection, Cartier beautifully illustrates its signature style, with balanced shapes and clean lines. The jeweler on Rue de la Paix masterfully combines complex, multiple diamond cuts with faceted colored stones and beads, smooth or engraved in the tutti frutti style. The Geopelia necklace truly is a fabric of light. It is lightweight and supple, and is set with a D FL Type IIa stone of more than 5 carats and 15 oval diamonds (12.35 carats) mounted on a fan of diamonds. The combination of diamonds and colors reveals Cartier’s prowess when it comes to offering balance. The Azulejo ring combines sapphire beads and trapezoid diamonds set at an angle, holding a sugar loaf-cut sapphire (15.35 carats), while the Tayeta features a ruby cabochon of nearly 7 carats that seems to balance on a ribbon of brilliant-cut diamonds.
While Cartier expresses itself with subtlety, Louis Vuitton proclaims its artisanal excellence with Virtuosity. Paying homage to apprenticeship and mastery of craftsmanship, the bag maker takes us on a whirlwind tour of inspiration with 12 themes and 110 unique pieces. Monogram, Damier, V, trunk nail and rope motifs are displayed to their fullest on rows of stones stacked and arranged to showcase all the techniques of craftsmanship, as seen on the Apogée and Connection necklaces, and on the centerpiece of the collection, Maestria, which took 2,730 hours to complete. It features 2,500 diamonds, 250 of which were cut to the piece, and a trio of perfectly matched Colombian emeralds. The gold edging is fully articulated.
Louis Vuitton has successfully demonstrated its prowess, and all these pieces to identify have left our heads spinning.
There is a sense of nostalgia at Chanel, as the collection presented – Reach for the Stars – is the last to have been designed by creative director Patrice Leguéreau, who passed away in 2024. Chanel takes us into a world of diamonds and airiness, reinterpreting its iconic themes of the comet and the lion. Two winged lions face each other haughtily, like two guardians of the temple; or more mysteriously, conceal themselves, their openwork faces appearing only when you approach the jewel. The enameling work, the soft contrasts (blood-red rubies and diaphanous moonstones), and the solar brilliance of the yellow diamonds give wings to the imposing jewelry sets without ever being heavy, cascading with radiance and graceful femininity.
“With this new Carte Blanche collection, I wanted to capture the beauty of nature before it disappears.” With this new chapter – Impermanence – Claire Choisne seeks to capture the ephemeral beauty of nature. Once a year (Carte Blanche collection), Boucheron’s artistic director gives free rein to her personal inspirations (here, a trip to Japan) and her quasi-scientific explorations, upending all we thought we knew about jewelry. Comprising 28 monochrome pieces divided into six compositions (a total of 18,000 hours of work!), the collection evokes the cycle of nature – from blossoming to withering – in the spirit of Japanese Ikebana. Each composition slips into a curved tube-shaped vase, to be displayed as an art object. Working with unexpected materials – from resin, Corian and borosilicate glass to ceramic and black sand – Claire Choisne reveals thistles made of organically sourced 3D resin, literally ‘sewn’ with diamonds (up to 600 for the largest), creating strikingly realistic pieces. The caterpillar and beetle seem to move, the leaves rustle and the petals curl up, with a sensitive and virtuoso poetic language emerging from the collection.
Chaumet’s floral and botanical inspiration in the Jewels by Nature collection can be interpreted as a vision of nature, at once eternal, ephemeral and reborn, a vision that must be preserved. The 54 pieces in the collection feature both the humblest and noblest species, in keeping with Chaumet’s jewelry tradition. The luxurious adornments are infused with the utmost simplicity. Successions of flowers, from bud to bloom in admirable stones (flower from the Sweetshrub necklace), reflect the Maison’s signature asymmetry. On the Avoine & Etoile des champs necklace, the thin gold leaves of the young buds contrast with the blossoming flowers opposite, studded with cushion-cut yellow diamonds. Inspired by a 1922 Maison tiara, the humble wild rose (Wild Rose set) features remarkable yellow diamonds, including an 8.23-carat Fancy Vivid Yellow VS2. The colors are subtle but sometimes burst forth, as on the Water Lily necklace and ring, which are set with sublime 17- and 23-carat imperial topazes.
Piaget’s Shapes of Extraleganza is the second opus in the Essence of Extraleganza collection, launched in 2024 to mark the Maison’s 150th anniversary. Extravagant, elegant, bold and artistic, the collection is inspired by the Maison’s style benchmarks: the 1960s and 1970s. Shapes of Extraleganza recounts the powerful connection between Piaget and art and artists, paying tribute to its flagship collaborations with Salvador Dali, Arman and famous collectors such as Andy Warhol. Worthy of a pietra dura work of art, the extraordinary Kaleidoscope Lights necklace required meticulous cutting of curved slices of hard gemstones that were perfectly assembled. It took five hundred hours of work to assemble, not including the work of the stonecutter. Shapes of Extraleganza highlights the complexity of compositions of precious gemstones and hard stones in vibrant colors, typical of the Maison. Sublime: a Rose Piaget brooch/bracelet in feather marquetry so realistic it could be mistaken for the real thing, created by feather artist Nelly Saunier.
We also delve into history with Italian houses Buccellati and Pomellato, goldsmiths and jewelers. Buccellati presents a selection of creations from its heritage, including elegant gold bags and clutches featuring Rigato engraving that imitates silk. New additions include mini bags set with precious finishes, cuff bracelets with openwork patterns surrounded by diamonds, and cocktail rings featuring the House’s signature motifs, such as the honeycomb, two types of gold and Rigato engraving. Pomellato unleashes itself with the 75 pieces in its Collezione 1967. From the innovative art of the chains of the 1970s to the sculptural designs of the 1980s and the exuberant shapes of the 1990s, each era has contributed essential elements to Pomellato’s aesthetic language. In 2025, the Italian House has drawn inspiration from this to create heavy gold links in chokers, bracelets and extravagant necklaces with oversized colored stones, including a 12-carat fancy light yellow diamond, a Ceylon sapphire weighing over 22 carats, and a 56-carat asymmetrically cut tanzanite. A virtuoso interpretation, bursting with color and brimming with Pomellato’s expertise.
At Damiani, the Marea Rosa necklace is designed to resemble a sunrise over the Mediterranean, with its undulating waves of morganites and marquise-cut diamonds reflecting the rays of a clear morning. The precious waves hold a stunning 46.71-carat blue-green Paraíba tourmaline from Mozambique.
The sun’s rays pour into Terres d’Instinct by Messika. The Maison is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a collection inspired by the lands and wildlife of southern Africa, where its diamonds come from (a creative territory previously preempted by De Beers London). The warmly sparkling jewelry is crafted in textured, brushed and chiseled gold, reflecting the Maison’s work that began with Move Ciselé. The tribal style of the Kalahara set stands out with its yellow diamonds, including one weighing nearly 35 carats, and its white gold pebbles studded with 3,298 snow-set diamonds. The Mirage necklace evokes dunes streaked by the desert wind, while the Fauve bracelet appears as if slashed by the claws of a lion. Terres d’Instinct marks a successful turning point for Messika, where gold finds a new place and a new language.
Let’s end on an enchanting note. Although Van Cleef & Arpels had reserved its L’Ile au Trésor high jewelry collection exclusively for its VIP clients and did not show anything during Fashion Week, the Maison has announced the opening of a pop-up boutique on the Left Bank*. The 200 m² space reveals an enchanted garden, a colorful, airy and dream-like natural setting. We find ourselves at the source of the Maison’s creative style since 1906.
