DIOR
- 19. Juli 2013
- 0 comments
- Editorial Media Group AG
- Posted in Watches & Jewellery
Cher Dior Her dialogue with Christian Dior? She began it upon her arrival as Artistic Director of Dior Fine Jewellery. Victoire de Castellane knows her Christian inside out and has consistently revived everything in the Master’s aesthetic universe through her own creations. Since last year, their dialogue has been put into writing in keeping with the great tradition of the epistolary novels from the 18th century, a century dear to the couturier. There was that first letter, Dear Dior. This year, Victoire de Castellane is writing a second letter to Christian Dior and the next sequel to the collection, entitled Cher Dior. This time, her missive is more intimate, like these twenty one pieces, more discreet than the Dear Dior collection, a veritable cluster of precious jewels of the loveliest delicacy and refinement.
“My very dear Christian” is how Victoire’s letter might well begin, revealing how much her Cher Dior collection pays tribute to him. And then go on to talk to him about their shared passion: colour. “Bright reds – scarlet, pillar-box red, crimson or cherry – are very cheerful and youthful”, wrote Christian Dior in his Little Dictionary of Fashion. “There is certainly a red for everyone.” Or a little bit before, “Be careful when you are selecting a blue to see it both in daylight and electric light because it changes very much.” Choosing nuances, harmonizing shades, coordinating them or quite the opposite making them clash…Victoire de Castellance also masters that particular talent of the couturier. And the colours interact together: the reds and blues of silks and fabrics then become rubies and sapphires. As with all the collections, and more especially this one, all of the workmanship on the colours is highlighted by the subtlety of the stones. Diamonds, spessartite garnets, demantoid garnets, Paraiba tourmalines, rubies, emeralds and a whole shading of coloured sapphires from light to intense yellow, pale blue to deep purple and every shade of pink…
Creative and meticulous, the settings express all the richness of Victoire de Castellane’s palette of colours, whether shaded, tone on tone, contrasted or even explosive like a burst of fireworks.
“Colour is what gives jewels their worth. They light up and enhance the face”, Christian Dior already asserted in 1956. While adding: “Nothing is more elegant than a black skirt and sweater worn with a sparkling multi-stoned necklace.”
Victoire de Castellane is continuing her letter to Christian Dior. This time, she is in the Haute Couture ateliers at 30, Avenue Montaigne where the seamstresses are busying themselves with a veil. This happy image inspired her to create the inner structure of her collection: the back of each piece recapturing the design on dotted voile. The gold of the setting is intricately elaborated in order reproduce the pattern. Because in the high jewellery ateliers their know-how is exceptional too. And like the lining of a ball gown, the hidden side of the setting must also hold all the surprises lurking within the very finest art and craftsmanship. www.dior.com 19.07.2013