The Four Cultural Phenomena That Are Rewriting the Language of Jewelry
Transformation or evolution. Jewelry is taking center stage, provoking, daring, surprising, and entering homes with new narratives. From Tiffany, Messika, De Beers and Julie Kegel, here are the new directions of business and storytelling
JEWEL-REEL
The new narrative of authenticity comes from both cinema and TV
While it is now well accepted that, to increase its power as a dissemination tool, fashion increasingly needs cinema – understood as the new frontier of luxury (confirmed by the fashion system’s entry into movie production), jewelry is not standing idly by either. Of course, we can write endlessly about jewels that have become legendary thanks to movie plots that have made cinema history – from the diamond tiara in the 1928 film City Butterfly to the cameo brooch in Gone with the Wind in 1939 and the Bvlgari necklace in The House of Gucci in 2021. But nowadays, the need to ensure the loyalty of those who buy, without slipping into temporary marketing gimmicks, and to share the values of the brand, mean that the most renowned jewelry players are entering homes in new forms. The latest idea, perhaps more strategic than romantic, links Netflix to Tiffany & Co., the first luxury jewelry house to collaborate with the famous American entertainment platform, making its debut in the Frankenstein movie by Guillermo del Toro, starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz. In this case, the immersive power of cinematic storytelling goes beyond the small screen to continue the story inside The Landmark, Tiffany’s flagship store in New York, with Frankenstein-themed installations. Because, as Anthony Vaccarello from Saint Laurent and the movie production company of the same name told WWD some time ago, «On a communicative level, a movie has more impact on people than a collection because, compared to clothes, it lasts longer than clothes in a store.»
The Frankenstein-themed installations at the Landmark flagship store in New York by Tiffany & Co.
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
From being a disruptor to becoming a High Jewelry Maison
About a dozen high jewelry companies founded between 1800 and the early 1900s are still in business, including Chaumet, Cartier, Bvlgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany & Co. which, thanks to the strength of the French or Swiss multinational groups to which they belong (LVMH, Richemont...), their archives and the heritage they have cultivated for over a century, still manage to close the year with significant profits. But the concept of the maison goes beyond time, increasingly becoming a crossroads of art, culture, vision, identity, storytelling, emotions and the ability to intercept constantly evolving needs. This is the case of "twenty-year-old" Messika which, as an independent and former emerging Parisian, has managed to enter the Olympus of historic high jewelry maisons, the only one with a woman at the helm, starting from a precise philosophy: giving freedom to diamonds. Now one of the fastest growing companies in the sector, Messika has over 450 points of sale around the world and reference boutiques from New York to Dubai, with a turnover of over 200 million euros.
THE GAME CHANGER
Where technology makes luxury democratic
It always takes a Parisian catwalk to discover new dimensions, enter fantastic universes and embrace languages that unite or sometimes divide, but which certainly get people talking or sow seeds. In this latest round of prêt-à-porter, it was Belgian designer Julie Kegel who offered us food for thought. The game is part of her transformation story: a woman in constant movement, always one step behind in terms of time and technology, she lent herself to this creative exercise, giving her the chance to wear necklaces, earrings and bracelets made of 3D printed diamonds and precious stones, used as if they were stickers.
An artistic experiment that undoubtedly gives free rein to the imagination. A sort of ironic metaphor, a dialogue that opens up new possibilities towards a lighter, more accessible, democratic luxury, made real only thanks to technology.
IS IT JUST A MATTER OF STRATEGY?
Natural diamonds: yesterday, today and tomorrow
In 1929, the Wall Street crash left no escape even for the jewelry industry, including diamonds. To try to revive the decline in sales, dealers at the Diamond Corporation Limited in London had an apparently risky idea. They asked Gabrielle Chanel to create a collection of jewelry using their real natural diamonds. Reactions on several fronts were not exactly favorable, but success was guaranteed. Chanel, which until that moment (1932) had only created clothes and fashion jewelry, launched itself among the big names in diamond jewelry and did it in its own way. The jewels, fabulous unique pieces, were designed for the Chanel woman, in other words, easy to wear and at any time of day. The rest is jewelry history. Almost a hundred years later, similar scenario, different tools, same needs. After a push on natural diamonds made up of new faces, advertising campaigns and rediscovered stories, Desert Diamonds arrived, also called "soft whites" that turn to shades of beige. Taylor Swift, unknowingly, has become an icon thanks to her vintage diamond, "old mined" engagement ring, as romantic today as it-gems tomorrow.
Gold and diamond ring and gold bracelets, Ellis Mhairi Cameron.