garden of delight
Versailles – Louis XIV’s lavish chateau – remains to this day an endless fountain of inspiration. Countless works of art have drawn upon its gilded interiors and remarkable gardens, and now there is a new, significant, addition to that list. Drawing specifically from the intricate, manicured floral details of the Jardin du Roi Soleil is Dior’s latest haute joaillerie collection – Dior à Versailles, Côté Jardins.
Dior Joaillerie Creative Director Victoire de Castellane is known for her flamboyant and kaleidoscopic approach to jewellery creation. This season, she has indulged in even more excess. The copse of Versailles’ verdant energy anchors a collection that explodes with exuberance and abundance. This is jewellery not for the faint-hearted, but for the bold.
Each piece – there are 66 in all, 29 being unique – is a miniature encyclopaedia of botanic references. The Dior Bosquet de la Girandole asymmetrical earrings, for example, each contains a pulsating opal in the centre – glimmering liquid pools surrounded by delicate blooms. The Dior Bosquet de la Salle de Bal bracelet, on the other hand, is focused on a carved rock crystal shell, a direct reference to the Jardin’s Ballroom Grove.
Elsewhere, the tumbling, organic forms cannot fail to elicit a smile. Flowers of diamond, emerald, sapphire, tsavorite, garnet, tourmaline, spinel and peridot twine around the Dior Trianon necklace like ivy. The ruby at the centre of the Dior Orangerie Rubellite ring attracts a butterfly and bee, each composed of diamonds. But all is not left to grow wild and untamed. The precise geometry and metalwork of Versailles garden designer André Le Nôtre is referenced too – notably in the Dior Bosquet de la Raine earrings, paying homage to his complex box hedge and metal filigree patterns. Romantic and resplendent, the collection is a cornucopia of colour and cut. Marie Antoinette herself would approve, we’re sure.
