Beautiful fantasy of Dior et moi: every (st)one is important

‘A combination of the incompatible’, a phrase overheard at the presentation of the new Dior et Moi high jewelry collection in Paris at the end of January.

Even if not the bullseye definition of this collection, it nonetheless lingered in the air, illuminated by soft magenta and hushed blue lights, for it cut to the core of the bold and glorious, exuberant and sublime style of Dior’s Creative Director of Fine Jewelry, Victoire de Castellane, looking into the heart of beauty without bias or prejudice.

A beauty that couldn’t care less: is this (st)one precious enough? Indeed, one of the most prominent pieces in the collection is an opal necklace in yellow and white gold, diamonds, pearls, garnets, sapphires, peridots, emeralds and lacquer: with a semiprecious, not precious, stone as a centerpiece.

Originally, the ‘Toi et Moi’ (‘You & Me’) jewelry format referred to rings with two gems sitting side by side, a romantic symbol of two hearts becoming one. Characteristic of the Belle Époque, this form was popularized through the engagement rings of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais, John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Onassis. Yet today, in a world where all borders are shifting—in the royal realms and in the mainstream, at the social level and in art—this juxtaposition is no longer relevant.

‘Dior et moi’: Me that is not the same anymore, Me that is free in spirit and decisions, Me that creates and sees the world differently.

Diamonds, emeralds and sapphires are set in perfect balance with tourmalines, rubellites, opals, garnets and peridots, previously considered less precious or important. The new generation has a different vision, and a new era in jewelry is following their path and experiences.

Playful and colorful jewels, full of asymmetrical details, a mix of stones of different caliber. “It’s an homage to Art Deco, but in 2020. Like little pieces of sci-fi architecture,” says Victoire de Castellane in an interview for Vogue.

Illustration by inkycubans.

Between-finger rings, asymmetric earrings, bangles and necklaces, lacquer—pioneered and exalted in the 2006 Diorette collection, which is still Victoire’s signature,—in fifteen bright hues inspired by Marie Antoinette, subtle geometric shapes, a creative genius of design and virtuosity of implementation: the thirty-nine pieces of the Dior et Moi collection are all about the joyful polyphony of these fresh outlooks and interpretations in jewelry.