The new Etourdissant collection shone with the maison’s greatest strengths throughout its multi-coloured and shiny history. Here's what caught our eyes.
All eyes were on Singapore last October when Cartier premiered its latest high jewellery collection, the Etourdissant Cartier, at the Singapore Pinacotheque de Paris. For the occasion, more than 600 of Cartier’s most stunning high jewellery pieces were flown in and open to the public for viewing for the first time.
It was a special occasion indeed as out of all the pieces on show that day, more than 60, part of the new Etourdissant collection, made their world debut in Singapore.
True to the collection’s name – etourdissant means dazzling or astonishing brilliance in French – the pieces dazzled in a myriad of colours and mesmerized with Cartier’s many innovative designs. Yet certain underlying themes that defined the brand remained apparent.
The Etourdissant collection may be new but it shone with the maison’s greatest strengths throughout its multi-coloured and shiny history. Here's what caught our eyes.
Cartier's ties with history
Brilliant stones and extravagant designs aside, Cartier has also always been known to premiere stones with equally colourful pasts. One of the latest Etourdissant Cartier pieces happens to be made with a stone with one of the oldest tatler_tatler_stories in the world. The Romanov bracelet (pictured above) features a 197.8 carat blue sapphire that once belonged to Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, the Romanov heiress and the last grande dame of imperial Russia. In Cartier’s hands, the sapphire is given a new breath of life set in a statement cuff bracelet that lets the sapphire shine in the spotlight it deserves.
Cartier's love for colours
The Etourdissant collection is also a bold collection of fabulously rich colours, each vibrating with heat, passion and joy, suitably in reflection of the nation of Singapore where it was premiered. Cartier’s signature Tutti Fruitti style was not missed. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, stones engraved with a single line are crafted together to bring out the best of each other’s hues for pieces that are stunning while remaining easy to match with a myriad of other colours.
Cartier's strength with animals
Cartier has long fostered a relationship with animals in its pieces, one of its most famous being the panther. The new pieces continue to pay tribute to that bond, depicted in the strongest and most fearless animals the likes of the serpent, the dragon and of course, different variables of the Panthere. They intrigue with the allure of nature’s most precious species, immortalised in nature’s most prized materials.
Cartier's brilliance in innovation
The belle of the ball is the Etourdissant necklace. The diamond and platinum necklace drips with the extravagance that is synonymous with the maison with row upon rows of scintillating diamonds. But what truly stands it out lies in its versatility, another aspect Cartier has always paid attention to in terms of design. It can be worn in all its sparkling glory with four rows of diamonds adding to the shine of the centre 34.96 carat brilliant-cut internally flawless diamond, or have the first 2 rows detached to showcase the diamond sans distraction.
To discover more of the Etourdissant Cartier collection, log on to the official website here.
(Photos: Cartier)