Buckle Up: Chopard’s 74-Piece Red Carpet Collection is Breathtaking

Amy ElliottAugust 3, 20213 Mins read870 Views

As its official partner since 1998, iconic fine jewelry brand Chopard has a longstanding affaire d’amour with the Cannes Film Festival, and traditionally uses the event as a platform for debuting its annual Red Carpet collection, which features the atelier’s most opulent high jewelry of the year.

Chopard’s latest Red Carpet collection was formally unveiled during the long-awaited 2021 edition of the star-studded event, at a lavish dinner held on the pontoon of Cannes’ legendary Martinez Hotel, with key pieces adorning celebrities Bella Hadid, Isabelle Huppert, Eva Herzigova, and Catrinel Marlon.

Last year’s Cannes festival was canceled due to the pandemic, necessitating a small and subdued high jewelry debut. But this year, the collection is as far from “subdued” as it gets—the Red Carpet collection’s display amounted to a bacchanal of colored gemstones, intricate botanical forms, and animalia.

Encompassing 74 pieces in all, the jewels embrace an overarching “paradise” theme. Think of a dreamlike, almost futuristic Garden of Eden, where pomegranate seeds take the form of ruby briolettes, the plumage of an exotic bird is rendered in sapphires, and the Mediterranean Sea itself is immortalized in a cocktail ring bearing a single, breathtaking black opal.

The collection reflects the unique vision of president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele, and incorporates a tapestry of inspirations, from the Italian island of Pantelleria to a wilderness resembling that of the fantasy film Avatar. The jewels also conjure the idea of a space in which to seek refuge, unplug, and revel in the beauty of nature.

They are creations that “invite women on a journey towards a comforting haven, an imaginary world brimming with dreams and optimism,” Scheufele noted in the official announcement accompanying the collection launch. “There are various ways of envisaging one’s personal Paradise and I have tried to give life to these multiple worlds through creations honoring fauna, flora, and the finest gemstones.”

And even though nature, and a kind of escapist reverie, is the unifying element across all the designs, certainly the collection’s overall vibe signals a return to celebrations big and small, and the glamour that so many of us have been craving for so long. Who else is ready? Allons-y!