Gucci presents a high jewelry collection led by Jessica Chastain – WWD

MILAN — Presenting Gucci’s third high jewelry collection, creative director Alessandro Michele marvels once again at the trajectory of this particular brand segment.

“What was surprising was how we entered territory that belonged to big jewelers, but we gained credibility. It was something I really wanted to do, I’ve always been obsessed with jewelry and felt the need to complete the collection of items that might belong to a hypothetical Gucci customer,” Michele said in an interview. exclusive, casually wearing several rings and necklaces – not for the course in her case.

This authenticity has led to “an unexpected job, but carried out with a lot of passion. I wanted to bring jewelry back to life, jewelry is alive. They are an integral part of our lives, marking great events. I also put them on the catwalks of models and I wear them everyday, in the office, at breakfast, on the street,” he continued, highlighting Gucci’s innovative approach in presenting high jewelry creations. with ready-to-wear. wear on the catwalk.

He recognized the complexities of fine jewelry for a fashion and accessories company, but Gucci relies on a network of goldsmiths and artisans in Italy’s major jewelry centers, including Valenza, for example. “It’s a segment that needs dedication and commitment and its industry has different mechanics and timing, but we’re consistent. It’s not about merchandising.”

The third Hortus Deliciarum, or Garden of Delights in Latin, collection is striking and also reverberates through a campaign and film led by actress and film producer Jessica Chastain, who wore Gucci to the Oscars last March when she received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”

The campaign, directed by Ezra Petronio and photographed by Mert & Marcus, can be “counter-intuitive”, admitted Michele, as the jewels are unique and may already be unavailable throughout the communication campaign – we were surely already in in the hands of a customer at the time of the WWD interview – but he still thinks “it’s an interesting experience”. He confides that he is so attached to the jewels that he would like “to know who bought them and who is going to wear them”.

Michele said he was looking to make “unique and special pieces” and aimed to create an imaginary world related to jewelry. Namely, this collection is divided according to five themes.

The first theme develops the idea of ​​the Grand Tour, an opportunity for both escape and learning. Michele revisited unique and antique pieces in micro-mosaics, made between 1850 and 1870, showing typical Roman landscapes, from the Colosseum to the Pantheon or the Tivoli waterfalls, by encrusting them in necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches and gold pendants holding sparkling peridot, yellow beryl, red and pink spinel, blue topaz, fire opal, pink tourmaline and colored diamonds.

The second theme revolves around the India of the Maharajah, with superb gemstones, rubellite, imperial topaz, yellow beryl, tourmaline and garnet for the solitaire rings with pear or heart-cut stones, multi-row necklaces of multicolored stones and bracelets adorned with yellow beryl, or rings that recreate the shapes of the rosettes of European cathedrals.

The third theme revolves around the pearl, in mythology born from the foam of the sea and solidified on the skin of Aphrodite. Along the imaginary journey, the collection travels to Indonesia, Australia and Polynesia, and white, cream and black pearls are associated with imperial topaz to create necklaces associated with earrings and brooches, while holding detachable pendants in imperial topaz or alternating with multicolored tourmalines and diamonds.

Moving on to the 1930s and 1940s, Michele creates necklaces and bracelets with geometric shapes in chains with asymmetrical and flexible modules with meticulous structural details, mixed with grandiose stones. Flexible chains are adorned with cushion-cut amethyst, aquamarine and blue-gray beryl, which reproduce their splendor in earrings or center pendants set in cages of baguette-cut diamonds.

70s pop culture and psychedelic colors are elements of the fifth theme, which includes white gold chain necklaces, diamonds holding genuine hexagonal emerald talismans, pear-shaped green tourmaline and set aquamarine in a green enamel frame containing baguette-cut diamonds. A pendant with a yellow gold base recalls a scene in the savannah, engraved and enamelled. The savannah pattern comes from the 1969 Vittorio Accornero De Testa “Savana” scarf designed for Gucci and in 1981 this pattern was transferred to a pendant.

The collection is presented at the Villa Albani in Rome from June 12 to 19.