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Sinking under the rapturous force of its crashing blankets, we land-bound mammals are able only to revel within the ocean’s majesty for a moment. Breathless, however, we persist, longing to be welcomed into its arms, to be enchanted by its secrets. But ours is a covetous lust, for a beauty unforgiving, uncharted, and poised to tempt our obsession. The ocean goddess, Amphitrite presides over her kingdom with ferocious protection. Ruling a world of magnificence she watches over the delicate and the destructive, the intricate and the infinite, the perfect and peculiar. She is host to the cosmic tide, one that dances within the very axis of the planetary universe while she mothers her populous of enigmatic creatures. And though we are tussled by her elements and thrown to the shore, we remain insatiably drawn. We long for her virtuous beauty, to navigate her home’s perilous frontiers and to explore its treasures. But this is a bounty so mysterious, so furtive, we search in vain. For this is an adventure that teases only a taste of its beauty – a place to be desired, but never conquered.
It has been nearly 70 years since a young jewellery craftsman by the name of Jean Schlumberger was invited to weave his unique take on the contours of the sea into his work for Tiffany & Co. His beguiling antiquities have since become some of the jewellery Maison’s most famed and desired collectables. At the time, they adorned the stars of the silver screen, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, as well as iconic names like Jackie Onassis (then Kennedy), Diana Vreeland and famed horticulturalist Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon. His work became synonymous with covetable decadence, due to its intricate detail, exquisite materials and homages to the silhouettes of the deep. The pieces, created using diamonds, amethysts, rubies, gold and platinum as well as the rarely used paillonné technique – where pieces of paillon foil are layered between coats of enamel to create a luminous effect – became as unique and captivating as the marine organisms themselves.
For Blue Book 2023: Out of the Blue, Tiffany & Co. reveals the latest in their high jewellery oeuvre. A capsule designed by Chief Artistic Officer Nathalie Verdeille, it offers a new incarnation of the delicacies of Schlumberger’s original designs. Thematically arranged into organic motifs – shell, coral, jellyfish, starfish, sea star and star urchin – the fine, detailed pieces are crafted from sapphires, black opals, aquamarines, tanzanites and diamonds.
Inspiration from the organic form is being heavily romanced this season, as designers welcome the resurrection of Surrealism’s haute kitsch. The next coming of this art movement has seen it weave its recognisable thread throughout fashion and décor, creating abstract discourses from the realms of botanics, fauna, primates and the inanimate. In particular, the latest from couture house Schiaparelli. Creative director Daniel Rosebery’s stellar collections for Spring 2023 and then Fall/Winter 2023 ignited a redux obsession for both wearable Surrealism as well as the label’s signature motif hardware and silhouette-detailed design.
As it happens, it was Madame Elsa Schiaparelli who first discovered Jean Schlumberger, circa 1930, when he was crafting distinctive homemade flower brooches from Meissen porcelain. She became so enamoured with his creations that she soon had him designing poetic additions for her own garments. Their collaborations – everything from baroque lapel pins, harlequin brooches and costume jewellery – are still highly regarded for their influence on the Surrealist era.
Schlumberger, himself, was opposed to modern design (he preferred the look of antiques) and his dedication to this personal style made his pieces quite instantly iconic. His disregard for trend and his respect for an innate aesthetic, made his artistic fascination with costume jewellery, and the living world, all the more captivating. From the very beginning, his work honoured the creatures of the sea: mermaids, cockleshells, anemones and underwater vertebrates, all decorated with spectacular precision and designed to be displayed and adored. This created a most gallant type of sophistication which, ironically, became a trend in itself. Diana Vreeland, who was close to both Schiaparelli and Schlumberger during their early years, once exclaimed that a piece by the bijoux craftsman was “not at all subtle” and “lights up the whole room!”. Perhaps his success was owed to the fact he was foremost an artist. Though he first worked as a fashion designer and understood the gravity of seasonal design, it was his commitment to his artistic principles that set him apart, and eventually made him one of only four designers ever to have their name branded into Tiffany & Co. jewellery.
This 2023 collection brings in a tide for a contemporary Schlumberger devotee. A new wave of obsession for the most desirable (and collectable) of high jewellery. From the fluid sway of the Pisces fish brooch, to the sea-blue Ombre neck piece clustered with anemones, to the brittle webs of yellow diamond coral earrings, and the exceptional diamond pendant that follows the grace of a luminous jellyfish, this is a collection that drifts to the past while sailing into the future. A style personification that honours not only the genius of Jean Schlumberger, but that of her highness, the Goddess of the Sea.
Before you return to the surface, you capture a moment. A flash of her diamond aura as it skims the dark water. A bloom of jellyfish, seahorses and shimmering guppies are pulled along by her tide, as they follow their queen into the depths of the beyond. And though it is fleeting, you are left with the rush of their furious foam, as it drifts from their tails and settles around you. The coral below sways with balletic arms of adoration, while a magnetised starfish holds bold and red with the all the proud stoicism of a loyal protector. Then, as you finally rise, slowly to the light, back to the world from where you came, you hear the siren of her song. A spell, a lullaby, from the High Priestess, inviting you to return again soon, to the deep blue sea.
DISCOVER THE TIFFANy & CO. BLUE BOOK 2023: OUT OF THE BLUE
CREATIVE DIRECTION: MARNE SCHWARTZ & DANÉ STOJANOVIC
PHOTOGRAPHY: AXEL JOZEPH
FASHION DIRECTION: ANNA CASTAN
HAIR: ALEXIS PARENTE
MAKEUP: MAÏNA MILTZA
MANICURE: LEILA REIRBAL
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: JEAN-MARC MONDELET
LIGHTING ASSISTANT: FAYCAL BOUHASSOUM
FASHION ASSISTANT: CHRISTIAN MARCHESICH
MODEL: MILLY / PREMIUM MODELS
THIS FEATURE IS PUBLISHED IN THE 15TH EDITION OF GRAZIA INTERNATIONAL. ORDER YOUR COPY HERE.
TOP BANNER IMAGE: NECKLACE IN PLATINUM AND 18K YELLOW GOLD WITH BLACK OPALS, AQUAMARINES, BERYLS, TOURMALINES AND DIAMONDS, TIFFANY & CO., SHOP THE COLLECTION. OFF-THE-SHOULDER DRAPED JERSEY JACKET, BALMAIN, SHOP SIMILAR
