I went off the grid this weekend. A last-minute camping trip to June Lake in California’s Eastern Sierras, followed by one night at Benton Hot Springs, an old silver mining town on the Nevada border, was the perfect cap to a summer that saw me spend far too many days indoors.
Now, with Labor Day just one week away, I’m taking stock of all the things I did this summer—and regretting all those I didn’t get a chance to do.
One big event I missed? The high jewelry presentations in Paris in early July, which began some 15 years ago as a complement to Haute Couture week, and have since turned into a spectacle of finery unlike anything the jewelry industry has ever seen. Here’s a taste of what the biggest, most illustrious jewelry maisons introduced in the City of Lights earlier this summer. Mark your calendars for the high jewelry presentations in July 2018—Paris won’t disappoint.
Boucheron’s spectacular Hiver Impérial collection, an ode to the wintry landscapes and royal dress of Imperial Russia, includes this Dime Graphique diamond ring from the L’Anneau d’Or line.
Bulgari’s Festa collection comprises more than 100 jewels and high-end timepieces, including this bracelet, incorporating gold, enamel, and diamonds, as well as tourmalines, turquoise, coral, jade, and virtually every other gem under the Mediterranean sun.
These Endless Knot diamond earrings from Chanel’s Flying Cloud collection pay homage to a time in Coco Chanel’s life when she could be found sailing on the French Riviera aboard Flying Cloud, the four-mast, black-hulled yacht owned by her lover, the Duke of Westminster.
This emerald and diamond Pastorale Anglaise ring from Chaumet’s new high jewelry collection, Chaumet est une Fête, takes its inspiration from England’s Glyndebourne opera house.
Taiwan-based designer Cindy Chao showed her Four Seasons yellow diamond floral ring at Hôtel Ritz Paris during Couture week.
David Yurman’s high jewel spinel drop earrings are a vivid testament to the designer’s enduring love of color.
The Lotus by De Beers high jewelry collection includes this mega-carat, multicolored diamond collar.
Dior à Versailles, côté Jardins is a collection of 66 high jewelry pieces—like this yellow diamond Grand Canal ring—from Dior Joaillerie artistic director Victoire de Castellane that recreate the lush gardens of Versailles in a riotous combination of gems.
Piaget’s Sunlight Journey collection is an impressive range of 127 creations—including this collar necklace crowned by an oval cut Ceylon sapphire—that tell the story of a brilliant sun rising and setting on the Amalfi coast.
Last but not least, Van Cleef & Arpels
P.S. Like most of you, I was only able to catch last week’s partial solar eclipse. Annie Dillard’s haunting 1979 essay about witnessing a total solar eclipse will make you want to start making plans right now to be in the path of totality for the 2024 eclipse that will move across the U.S. from Texas to Maine. Austin or bust!
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