Menu
Search

Fashion

The Best High Jewellery Couture Collections

|
Written By:

Paris has once again become the glittering stage for the unveiling of this season’s high jewellery collections, where creativity knows no bounds and nature is endlessly reimagined. This time around, the maisons have pushed their craft to thrilling new heights – sculpting precious metals and gemstones into living tributes to water, flora, fauna and light itself. From Chanel’s star-spangled revelry to Chaumet’s elegant nods to nature, here we explore the best high jewellery collections to come out of couture week.

Chanel

There’s a golden hour so brief it feels like a secret, and Chanel bottles its glow in the new Reach for the Stars high jewellery collection. Inspired by Gabrielle Chanel’s fearless pursuit of radiant, rebellious glamour, the collection, dreamed up by the late Patrice Leguéreau and the Chanel Fine Jewelry Creation Studio, shimmers with audacity and grace. Here, winged diamonds unfurl like delicate lace across collarbones, comet tails streak into dazzling cascades and lions – Mademoiselle Chanel’s own zodiac totem – roar in sculpted gold and blazing diamonds.

The first offering, Elegance of Wings, sees diamond plumage flutter for the very first time like airy lace across necks and wrists, Padparadscha sapphires and tanzanites echoing that magical pink-orange sky. The second, Comet’s Freedom to Shine, captures starlight in cascades of diamonds and onyx, transforming rings into delicate hand jewels and chokers into glittering constellations. And the third, The Audacity of the Lion, roars with sculpted feline profiles and majestic medallions, draped in clouds of white and yellow diamonds. “We wanted to create pieces of jewellery that are illuminated by the rays of the sunset and beyond,” said Leguéreau and the studio, “with those colours blazing across the horizon. Capturing that magical moment between day and night when high jewellery sparkles on the skin.” With Chanel, we don’t just wear jewels. We take flight.

Dior

Step into Dior’s latest reverie: the Diorexquis haute joaillerie collection, where Victoire de Castellane once again spins Monsieur Dior’s passions into glittering fables. This season, she conjures a trio of Diorian delights loved by the famed couturier – enchanted landscapes, delicate blooms and lavish galas – each jewel a miniature stage for nature’s whimsical drama.

Think icy winters rendered in diamond-frosted florets, spring’s giddy rebirth splashed across gemstone petals and summer’s sun-dappled revelry caught in kaleidoscopic opal doublets. Yes, that ingenious layering of opal over onyx or mother-of-pearl gives us stones that are both as moody as stormy seas and as tender as a dawn sky.

Ever the alchemist, de Castellane also dazzles with plique-à-jour, Dior Joaillerie’s signature technique, where lacquer blossoms into tiny stained glass windows. Light pours through, igniting a thousand dancing hues – proof that magic still exists if you look closely enough. This is high jewellery not simply worn, but lived – each piece a whisper of Christian Dior’s eternal romance with beauty, nature and dreams.

Chaumet

Chaumet’s latest high jewellery collection, Jewels by Nature, is a luminous tribute to the wonders of flora and fauna. Drawing on 245 years of savoir-faire, it celebrates nature’s treasures through 54 exceptional pieces that blend botanical poetry with the maison’s virtuoso craftsmanship.

The collection unfolds across three chapters, each honouring a different facet of the natural world. The first, Everlasting, is inspired by nature’s timeless cycles. This chapter showcases parures of wild rose adorned with fancy vivid yellow diamonds, oat and field stars delicately worked in yellow and white gold, and lush clover and fern pieces highlighted by exquisite Colombian emeralds. Next, Ephemeral, a collection that captures fleeting beauty, includes carnation creations in Chaumet’s signature blue sapphire hues, ruby-laced sword-lily jewels echoing entwined vines and sweetshrub sets combining pearls, spinels and sapphires in delicate pink gradients. Finally Reviving evokes nature’s renewal, featuring magnolia, iris, dahlia and water lily motifs, brought to life with diamonds, spinels and topaz, accompanied by dragonflies and blue tits in flight, and crowned by honeycomb bee brooches celebrating the essential role of pollinators.

From transformable tiaras to rings concealing secret solitaires, each piece is an ode to nature’s artistry, all crafted with Chaumet’s signature lightness and grace at 12 Vendôme.

Fendi

Fendi has unveiled its latest high jewellery marvel, Eaux d’Artifice – a name that mischievously riffs on feu d’artifice, or fireworks, swapping fire for water in a glittering aquatic fantasy. True to form, Fendi’s Roman spirit finds fresh expression in these aqueous wonders, cascading with baroque drama and decadent whimsy.

Artistic director Delfina Delettrez Fendi has conjured a collection that dances between illusion and opulence, where sapphires, aquamarines, and diamonds swirl in frothy compositions reminiscent of Roman fountains under moonlight. Fluid motifs coil and curve like miniature rivers, whispering of the Villa d’Este’s grand water gardens and secret grottoes. Think liquid luxury – pieces that shimmer with movement, catching the light like ripples on the Tiber.

It’s all very Fendi: the savoir-faire, the irreverence, the Roman nonchalance that makes wearing couture gems feel almost delightfully mischievous. Delettrez Fendi infuses the collection with playful duality – a nod to water’s gentle caress and its sheer, ungovernable power. Each creation seems poised to spring to life, as though the diamonds might trickle right off your neck in crystalline rivulets.

In short, Eaux d’Artifice is a lavish ode to Rome’s eternal flirtation with extravagance – an aquatic spectacle that proves, once again, nobody does decadent delight quite like Fendi.

Repossi

Repossi redefines volume with a daring evolution of its iconic haute joaillerie signature: Blast. This dynamic collection radiates vitality, composed of endless gold threads woven horizontally and vertically into striking sculptural forms. Anchored in the maison’s Place Vendôme heritage, the original Blast cuff is reimagined through 21 audacious new creations. Curvaceous, voluminous and unapologetically sensual, Blast defies traditional notions of high jewellery with its bold scale and magnetic allure.

More than a collection, Blast is a voyage into Repossi’s creative universe, merging the opulence of the maison’s legacy with primal influences drawn from primitive art and daring contemporary perspectives. The result is a collection that feels timeless yet unmistakably avant-garde.

In an accelerated luxury landscape, Blast stands as a tribute to patience and artistry. Each piece demands up to 250 hours of expert craftsmanship, featuring 15 radiant diamonds totaling 6.77 carats, alongside 720 pavé diamonds weighing 4.05 carats. Together, they embody Repossi’s mastery, affirming that true luxury is a deliberate, meticulous pursuit – crafted to perfection. SA

@10magazineaustralia