WEST SIDE GLORY

CREATIVE DIRECTION: MARNE SCHWARTZ & DANÉ STOJANOVIC 
PHOTOGRAPHY: VLADIMIR MARTI
FASHION STYLIST: LAURA JANE BROWN 
FASHION ASSISTANT: POUCY ELSHAHAWY 
WORDS: PEMA BAKSHI

“I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.”
– Mae West

It would be easy to think that in troubled times, jewels are far from a priority. But high jewellery is to accessories what haute couture is to fashion. Not a hand in the face of adversity, but a beacon of inspiration. High jewellery compels us to question what is possible within human limits, with work that pushes physical boundaries to achieve magic. It serves as an artful expression of our greatest aspirations – and nothing is more relatable in these times than the pursuit of fantasy. One figure who knew this well was Mae West.

Revered for her candid sensuality, buxom figure, and scintillating wisecracks, West possessed an ‘It’ factor as rare as some of the precious gems she frequently wore. Parisian designer Elsa Schiaparelli even used West’s hourglass shape as the inspiration for the bottle of her perfume, ‘Shocking’. While she captivated audiences with her sultry tones and alluring wit, it was her appreciation for the finer things – namely, exquisite diamonds – that became synonymous with the actress. Of all the jewels that West wore, none have transcended time more so than the diamonds in her 1933 film, She Done Him Wrong. Quipping, “I’m sorry you think more of my soul than you do of my diamonds,” the image of West adorned in an extraordinary diamond necklace, its intricately-cut surface sparkling under the silver screen lights, will forever serve as an everlasting moment in fashion and cinema. Later purchased by jewellery designer Neil Lane, the necklace was one of the most expensive pieces of jewellery ever made.

Almost a century later, high jewellery, or ‘haute joaillerie’, has come far, but its significance remains in long-standing craftsmanship. The beauty of such pieces cannot be measured for their sartorial credentials simply because these are not mere accessories we’re talking about. Rather, they are complex pieces of art to be experienced. Each high jewellery or horological piece is a work of art, built by renowned craftsmen from the world’s rarest gemstones and precious metals, all pieced together with inconceivable precision. And just like West herself, these pieces are ostentatious because they are genuinely one in a million.

With luxury houses creating some of the rarest wearable pieces ever made, from Bvlgari’s instantly recognisable Serpenti necklaces to Cartier’s fabled panther motifs and Boucheron’s zebra, we observe the timeless magnetism of high jewellery. Rich with historical reverence and speaking to our innate taste for things unique and otherworldly, these pieces embody unapologetic glamour reminiscent of the bold figures who wear them.

THIS FEATURE IS PUBLISHED IN THE 14TH EDITION OF GRAZIA INTERNATIONAL. ORDER YOUR COPY HERE.