A DAY IN DIAMONDS – THE 66TH CANNES FILM FESTIVAL IN MAY WAS AT ITS DAZZLING BEST.
AS LAURIE WICKWIRE REFLECTS, IT IS WHERE MOVIES AND JEWELS COLLIDE WITH BREATHTAKING RESULTS.
As the first warm breezes sweep down the Croisette in early May, it is time once again for the great, the good and the hopeful to converge on Cannes from around the world.
Ostensibly, the serious purpose is to watch the directors’ silver-screened jewels compete for the Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded to the director of the best film.
But glamour has many facets and in Cannes two stellar worlds collide. The gilt-edged glitterati of the jewellery world lace the festival’s edges with lavish parties, black tie events and beach soirées. Draped around the necks of star-studded talent, jewellery, like great acting, showers colour and light across many dimensions.
Jewels having become a showcase themselves, international jewellery houses glide through the elite crowds with a silky smoothness to win the attention of actresses, super models and socialites. For in Cannes, “that one” in “your” diamonds is an incalculable PR moment.
Premier stones, intuitive designs and innovative creations take the already-beautiful to impossible new heights of sumptuous glamour.
Select female guests arrive days before the grand soirées to select their complimentary items of atelier jewellery from ‘the vault’ for a specific jeweller’s black tie event. Choices are contemplated; decisions made, forms signed and glittering parcels of jewels are handed to eager and fortunate recipients.
Meanwhile, meticulous notes are taken and heads would roll if a rival jewellery brand were to attend a competitor’s gala event. It may be a fleeting moment, yet that saunter down the carpet is the culmination of months of preparation for jewellers. Firms sort through requests from actors and stylists months – but occasionally even minutes – before the event.
“The Americans are so organized” says Caroline Scheufele, co-vice-president of Chopard, elaborating on her different experiences working with American and European actors. “They know what dress they’re wearing months before, and they tell us how their hair will be. The Europeans are much cooler about the whole thing. They don’t have an entourage around them. Things can change at the last minute.”
Indeed, Keira Knightley caused a scandal whilst under contract with a specific luxury jeweller by wearing a competitor’s jewels to a televised red carpet event. The matter has yet to be settled, although it has been hushed.
But event planners and legal teams are only a few whose limits are tested in a glamorous world that never takes no for an answer. Every gem and piece of glitter present on Cannes’ red carpet represents a challenge conquered by the working goldsmith, jeweller and creative designer. Beyond aesthetics, a lifetime of study and skill mould gold and other precious metals into a structurally sound, boundary pushing, eye-catching treasure.
A symphony that can be held in a palm, a scene that captures a lifetime – a jeweller directs multitudes of metiers d’art to develop breathtaking pieces, merging age-old techniques with modern 3D jewellery design technology
The unforgettable scene, the graspable song, the meticulous craftsmanship is dedicated to each and every woman, who will one day wear their own red carpet piece.
Here’s to the star in all of us.
