In May of each year, Chopard’s Haute Joaillerie workshops showcase the full extent of their creativity and expertise. Designed by Caroline Scheufele to adorn actresses on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival – which Chopard has been serving as official partner since 1998 – the Red Carpet Collection has established itself over the decades as the most eagerly awaited event in the Maison’s jewellery calendar. This year, 77 creations inspired by the world of Fairytales – ‘Contes de Fées’ – enchanted La Croisette. An array of moving and tender, amusing and quirky, consistently precious creations rubbed shoulders with supremely elegant models in a world of dreamy wonderment. On the occasion of the Paris Couture Week, a selection of this new edition’s masterpieces is being presented in the heart of the city at Place Vendôme.
As a jewellery member of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, Chopard is exhibiting creations from its Red Carpet Collection as part of Paris Couture Week, to be held from June 24th to 27th 2024. As much a creative as a technical challenge, the Red Carpet Collection is annually reinvented, stylishly illustrating Chopard’s Co-President and Artistic Director Caroline Scheufele’s love for the 7th Art and for the Cannes Film Festival.
All these exceptional creations were revealed for the first time at the Cannes Festival, during a prestigious fashion show featuring looks from the second Caroline’s Couture collection: a line of apparel envisioned by Caroline Scheufele as a dialogue between the artistic crafts of couture and jewellery.
“Once upon a time…”
All around the world, in every culture and at every stage in life, fairytales are part of our collective imagination. These fabulous stories, often based on popular folklore, invite us to daydream and fling open the doors of our imagination. Enchanted forests, faraway kingdoms, talking animals, fantastic creatures with magical powers… These are the kind of childhood reminiscences that inspired Caroline Scheufele to create a brilliant and highly personal interpretation. In the fanciful world of Chopard’s ’Contes de Fées’, wonderment rubs shoulders with Haute Joaillerie in its purest form, embodied in fairytale creations alongside supremely classical interpretations.
Enchanting treasures for a ‘Contes de Fées’ Red Carpet Collection
Since its beginnings in the select circle of Haute Joaillerie Maisons, Chopard has displayed remarkable boldness, breaking free from existing codes and exploring unexpected territory – notably demonstrating a remarkable talent for showcasing the living world – while highlighting exceptional gems in more classic creations. The Red Carpet Collection 2024 illustrates all this and much more besides through the remarkable work of passionate Artisans.
A sculptural necklace inspired by the majestic oak tree symbolising strength and power magnifies an elegant bearing. Its interlacing of ethical rose gold and titanium, adorned with tsavorite leaves, yellow briolette-cut sapphire flowers and sculpted titanium acorns, required six months’ work by four jewellers and gemsetters.
A flower composed of rubellites, tsavorites and coloured diamonds blooms at the heart of an inclusion-free rock crystal. This miniature tableau is fitted on a long multicoloured sautoir necklace composed of tsavorite, rubellite, amethyst and diamond beads.
Other creations designed to enhance the neckline include two long pendants respectively adorned with a diamond and ruby key and a heart entirely paved with diamonds and blue and pink sapphires, complete with matching earrings; as well as a splendid Art Deco-accented choker on which two yellow and white diamond strips surround a 6.21-carat yellow diamond topped with micro-setting in matching shades.
The hand is treated to a pair of rings directly inspired by the world of fairytales: on the first, two delightful little frogs in titanium set with pear-shaped emeralds support a crown in ethical yellow gold set with rubellites and white and yellow diamonds. At the centre of this coveted attribute of royalty sits a magnificent 17.7-carat round-cut rubellite. The second features the face of an angel delicately sculpted in ethical white gold, along with diamond-set arms bearing finely crafted watermelon tourmaline wings sprinkled with diamond beads.
To highlight the neckline, three pairs of long earrings with absolutely pure lines feature pear-shaped diamonds; emeralds and yellow diamonds. Bolder spirits may opt for a pair of emerald-set titanium hoop earrings set adorned with Paraiba tourmaline flowers and diamonds.
Finally, the wrist is adorned with a magnificent cuff bracelet in ethical white gold, composed of three rows of emerald pearls and marquise-cut diamonds surrounding three heart-cut emeralds.
The emergence of Chopard Haute Joaillerie
In 2010, the extraordinary Animal World Collection confirmed Chopard’s position in the Haute Joaillerie firmament. This breathtaking animal bestiary not only revealed the outstanding creativity and expertise of the Maison’s artisans, but also revolutionised the codes of Haute Joaillerie itself. Caroline Scheufele broke away from commonly used style language by not only singling out those animals considered the most noble, but also choosing to pay homage to the animal world in all its vastness. Rats, flies, pigs, sardines and spiders received the same attention as polar bears, butterflies, peacocks and parrots. Through successive Haute Joaillerie collections, Caroline Scheufele has never ceased to upend conventions, pushing the boundaries of daring and feasibility, as is vividly reflected in this Red Carpet Collection.
