Bits, bridles and harnesses in gold studded with diamonds and sapphires: Brides de Gala, the new high jewellery collection by Hermès, is a clear reference to the origins of the brand, which began with leather objects for horses and riders. And it is also a tribute to one of its most famous silk scarves, which bears the same name. But it is an abstract reworking (with a very concrete price, around 2 million euros) that Pierre Hardy designed, where the part of the bridle that passes over the horse’s nose (noseband), the headstall, the snaffle and the noose around the throat blend together in a transformative set. Yes, because the necklace, with blue lambskin straps, gold chains, pavé of colourless diamonds and clasps with blue, yellow and orange sapphires, can be draped on the back like a shawl. Not only that: it is possible to divide the layers and wear them individually, perhaps even tied as a headband.
The equestrian theme of the second set, named Grand Apparat after the 1962 scarf, is decidedly simpler, with soutoir, bracelets, earrings and a ring in white gold, multicolored sapphires that are a little rigid and a little flexible like a stirrup. The motif of the third set, Della Cavalleria, on the other hand, is woven gold straps and rows of diamonds that design the plastron (pleated front part of a men’s shirt) of a necklace and the spirals of a bracelet. When, years ago, Jean-Louis Dumas commissioned his shoe designer to take care of the high jewelry, he set a single constraint: “Do not do place Vendôme!” Pierre Hardy, now in his third collection, has certainly demonstrated that he has gone beyond expectations.
