The Vendôme column, which stands in the center of the famous Parisian square where the high jewelery houses are concentrated, is covered with a covering with a bronze bas-relief obtained, it is said, from the fusion of 1,200 cannons of the Russian and Austrian armies, defeated by Napoleon in the Battle of Austerlitz. What better background for the images of the new high jewelery collection by Boucheron, which has chosen to add bows and medals to traditional jewels, which are somewhat reminiscent of a military atmosphere? The Power of Couture, the collection presented in Paris, is not, however, a hymn to war. Instead, it follows the logic of high jewellery, with extraordinary workmanship for 24 extraordinary unique pieces.
As in the case of the Tricot necklace which, as the name suggests, is made like a dense knit. But with the use of rock crystal and diamonds instead of wool thread. A choker that required not only an elaborate design, but also a creation that required 1,070 hours of laboratory work. The choice is due, in addition to presenting a super precious jewel, also to an echo of the origins of the Maison, given that the founder Frédéric Boucheron a century and a half ago, before becoming a jeweler, had grown up among his father’s luxury fabrics fabric merchant. In any case, the necklace seems soft as if it were made of fabric, thanks to the small gems tied with thin threads of an alloy composed of nickel and titanium.
The military echo emerges, however, with the aiguillette, a long ceremonial braid, which becomes a jewel in the shape of a braided cord made with satin-finished rock crystal. Two pins with symmetrical curves are instead intended to be pinned at shoulder height, a bit like the shoulder pads of generals in full uniform. These too, however, are transformed to be worn, joined together, like bracelets. They seem to be inspired by a tiara made by Boucheron in 1902 for the then Princess of Wales, while diamond and crystal medals can be worn, hanging from a rock crystal grosgrain ribbon. as a brooch or as a hair ornament.
The collection also includes less usual jewels, such as a frosted bow, also made from baguette-cut rock crystal. Also in this case the sensation is of a textile object. The bow is modular: it can be worn in six different ways thanks to the detachable elements. In the center it flaunts a large 4.05-carat pear-cut diamond: it can be detached and becomes a ring.
