The summer's hottest necklace and Graff's art-inspired designs; the latest jewellery news
Chokers, rivière necklaces, strings of pearls: they all have their place in the jewellery landscape, but none of them has quite the same summery feel as the new crop of sautoirs. These extra-long chains, culminating in a single pendant or tassel, or punctuated along their lengths with gem-set charms, are everything their short counterparts are not: unrestrictive, mobile, swooping and looping, swishing and swaying.
Worn long down the front,they draw attention to the décolletage, or, to make the most of an open-backed dress, they shimmer against bare shoulder blades. Hard stones like malachite, pink opal, carnelian and lapis lazuli are the go-to minerals at De Beers, Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier, while New York brand Foundrae uses richly toned enamel to contrast with yellow gold and diamonds.
At Jessica McCormack, it’s all about her new Ball and Chain range of 18ct rose-gold balls strung together with black platinum rings, topped off with an oversized marquise diamond to swing as you strut. Go long!
Art-inspired Bacchanalian delights
Serious art and serious diamonds go hand in hand these days, with lovers of one often lovers of the other too. So it’s unsurprising that Laurence Graff, OBE, whose eponymous company is synonymous with many of the world’s most exceptional diamonds, is a prolific art collector, particularly revolutionary 20th-century art; and it is the work of that era’s misunderstood master Cy Twombly that has inspired a new collection.
Drawing on the graffiti-like scribbles of the late artist, rivers of diamonds seem to undulate across necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings – sometimes interspersed with rubies as red as Twombly’s Bacchus series of paintings.
