Pretty things you'd want to wear: Fine jewellery picks from Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Cartier and more
Whether it's Louis Vuitton's iconic Monogram or Chanel's famous quilted pattern, these are pieces that can work day or night, and carry you through the work week to the weekend.
Here are some of our favourites:
Louis Vuitton
The six new pieces in the Idylle Blossom collection include long necklaces and rings. PHOTO: LOUIS VUITTON
If you're a fan of the French luxury label, you'll be a fan of its delicate Idylle Blossom collection. Recently, six new creations have been added to the range, which showcases the maison's signature Monogram pattern blending flower motifs with its LV initials.
These very pretty pieces include two long necklaces, three bracelets and a ring in pink or white gold with diamonds. While the necklaces and bracelets are refined and fluid, falling ever so delicately on the skin, the rings – crowned with four petals – are subtle yet unmistakably Louis Vuitton. This is jewellery for wearing all day, every day.
Chanel
Coco earrings in white and beige gold with diamonds. PHOTO: CHANEL
The instantly recognisable quilting pattern beloved by the maison's founder, Coco Chanel, is the motif of choice in the Coco Crush collection. Known for its modern aesthetic that marries sharp lines with rounded shapes to convey both strength and femininity, the jewellery line has been joined by several new pieces this year.
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Coco Crush bracelet in beige gold with or without diamonds. PHOTO: CHANEL
Of particular note are earrings in completely new designs. One highlight features a pair of quilted hoops in white gold joined to another in beige gold as a single diamond dangles from where they connect. Look out too, for Coco Crush's bracelets in a new, diamond pave style, including one that is completely covered in the precious gem. All that's left to do? Mix and match these beauties as you deem fit.
Bvlgari
Making their debut this month are new additions to the Diva's Dream collection, including this pendant in yellow gold with black onyx and diamonds. PHOTO: BVLGARI
A single earring in rose gold with carnelian and diamonds. PHOTO: BVLGARI
The start of July also sees the addition of seven novelties to the Italian jeweller's Divas' Dream collection. Their utterly feminine, fan-shaped silhouettes now come in a new, vibrant yellow gold hue. Our top picks include a pendant necklace and stud earrings set where black onyx and diamonds are perfectly contrasted against the brilliance of yellow gold. But fret not if black is not your thing. There's a pair of pendant earrings with mother-of-pearl and diamonds, while splashes of colour feature in single earrings carrying carnelian, malachite and turquoise with diamonds. Set against the soft tone of rose gold, they're ready to perk you up, night or day.
Cartier
Panthere de Cartier bracelet in rose gold with onyx, black lacquer and tsavorite garnets. PHOTO: CARTIER
What's better than jewellery featuring the French maison's emblematic panther head? One that features two heads, of course. In its latest fine jewellery selection launched this month, Cartier's rings and bracelets wrap smoothly around fingers and wrists to meet as a pair of panther heads facing each other. Graphic and expressive, it's easy to imagine these powerful creatures – portrayed in yellow or white gold with black lacquer or onyx and diamonds – as no less than your personal guardians.
Dior
Diorigami necklace in pink gold with diamonds, lepidolite, opal, turquoise, agate, chrysoprase, mother-of-pearl and pink lacquer. PHOTO: DIOR
A playful yet precious garden. That's how Dior describes its new Diorigami jewellery set and we couldn't agree more. As its name suggests, the necklace and earrings were conceived as a tribute to the Japanese art of paper folding, with ornamental stones in graphic shapes and pastel colours giving them an almost toy-like appearance. Except, of course, these 'playthings' are also sumptuous and display a careful harmony of ornamental gems, diamonds and lacquer.
Van Cleef & Arpels
Perlee Couleurs bracelet in yellow gold with turquoise and diamonds. PHOTO: VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
Perlee Couleurs between-the-finger ring in yellow gold with turquoise and diamonds. PHOTO: VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
Perlee is one of the French jeweller's most distinctive designs, and when combined with colourful stones, they make up the wonderfully optimistic world of Perlee Couleurs. In this collection, cabochons of hard stones are encircled by a border of dainty golden beads. The latest material to join the family? Turquoise, which makes for a striking colour on one end of a bracelet and between-the-finger ring, while the other end is topped off with diamonds.
Chaumet
The new Jeux de Liens pendant in rose gold featuring all the colours of the rainbow. PHOTO: CHAUMET
Happy hues are the priority over at the French jewellery-maker, whose focal piece is a new Jeux de Liens ('play of links') pendant in rose gold featuring all the colours of the rainbow. This calls for garnet, spessartite garnet, mandarin garnet, tsavorite garnet, citrine, peridot, sapphire, amethyst, pink sapphire and diamonds to sit together and exude nothing but pure joy. You would too, if you're wearing this lovely little piece.
Pomellato
The new Mini Nudo collection features Pomellato's signature 57-facet cut but on a more intimate scale. PHOTO: POMELLATO
Nudo is the Italian jeweller's most iconic creation and its new Mini Nudo collection reflects the fun and energetic spirit of the design. The stone's signature 57-facet cut is delivered on a more intimate scale, with the pieces especially suited for stacking and combining with other Nudo pieces.
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'When you have nothing, you take whatever you can get,' he says. 'I had nothing.' At his next stop, an Italian cafe, Mr Jean-Philippe Bouyer, a stylist who has worked for French luxury brand Dior, greets Mr Akbar warmly. 'Ali is indispensable,' Mr Bouyer says. 'Something very positive and rare in our times emanates from him. He kept the soul of a child.' Born in 1953 into a family of 10 children, two of whom died young, Mr Akbar grew up in Rawalpindi amid rampant poverty and open sewers, eating leftovers, sleeping five to a room, leaving school when he was 12, working odd jobs and eventually teaching himself to read. Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Mr Akbar left home in his late teens in search of a better life. PHOTO: DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/NYTIMES 'I did not want to wear clothes that reeked of misery,' he said. 'I always dreamed of giving my mother a house with a garden.' To advance, he had to leave. He procured a passport at 18. All he knew of Europe was the Eiffel Tower and Dutch tulips. A winding road took him by bus to Kabul, Afghanistan, where Western hippies, most of them high, abounded in 1970 – but that was not Mr Akbar's thing. He went on by road to Iran where, he said, 'the shah was an omnipresent God'. Eventually, he reached Athens, Greece, and wandered the streets looking for work. A businessperson took pity and, noting his eagerness, offered him a job on a ship. Mr Akbar cleaned the kitchen floor. He washed dishes. He was faced by aggressive mockery from bawdy shipmates for his refusal, as a Muslim, to drink. In Shanghai, he abandoned ship rather than face further taunting. The world is round, and around he went, back to Rawalpindi, and then on the westward road again to Europe. His mother deserved better – that conviction drove him through every humiliation. Visa issues in Greece and eventual expulsion landed him back in Pakistan a second time. His family thought he was mad, but, undaunted, he tried again. This time, he washed up in Rouen, France. It had taken only two years. After working there in a restaurant, he moved on to Paris in 1973. 'By the time I got to Paris, I had an overwhelming desire to anchor myself,' Mr Akbar said. 'Since I began circling the planet, I hadn't met many people who didn't disappoint me. 'But if you have no hope, you're dead.' He slept under bridges and in cellars. He encountered racism. He spent a couple of months in Burgundy harvesting cucumbers. Mr Akbar began hawking newspapers in Parisian streets in the early 1970s. PHOTO: DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/NYTIMES At last, in 1974, Mr Akbar found his calling when he ran into an Argentine student hawking newspapers. He inquired how he could do likewise and was soon in the streets of Paris with copies of satirical magazines Charlie Hebdo and Hara-Kiri, now defunct. He liked to walk, enjoyed contact with people and, even if margins were small, could eke out a living. Fast forward 51 years, and Mr Akbar is still at it. Because Saint-Germain is the home of intellectuals, actors and politicians, he has rubbed shoulders with the influential. From former presidents Francois Mitterrand and Bill Clinton to actress-singer Jane Birkin and author Bernard-Henri Levy, he has met them all. None of this has gone to his head. He remains a modest guy with a winning manner. His main newspaper is now Le Monde, which he acquires at a kiosk for about US$2 (S$2.50) a copy and sells for almost double that. He makes around US$70 on an average day and rarely takes a day off. Newspaper reading remains ingrained in France. Friends may buy two or three copies and slip him €10 (S$15) or invite him to lunch. He has no pension, but he gets by – and his mother got a Rawalpindi garden. Mr Akbar will receive a Legion d'Honneur, France's highest order of merit, at a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in autumn. PHOTO: DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/NYTIMES From an arranged marriage with a Pakistani woman in 1980, Akbar has five sons, one of them with autism and another with various physical ailments. A sixth child died at birth. Life has not been easy, one reason 'I have made it my business to make people laugh', he says. He is deeply grateful to France, which he calls a land of asylum, not least for the education it gave his children. But he believes that as a brown-skinned foreigner, he 'will never be completely accepted'. Some 50 years lat er, Mr Akbar remains on the move. Lose sight of him for a second and he is gone. But then comes the cry, 'Ca y est! Marine is marrying Jordan!', a reference to far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her young protege Jordan Bardella. His jokes are a sales pitch, but they also reflect a yearning for a happier, simpler world . NYTIMES
