How Paris High Jewelry Houses Are Doubling Down On Yellow Diamonds

Barbiecore refusniks take heart. While “Gen-Z Yellow” hasn’t caught on in the same way as its “Millennial Pink” counterpart, when it comes to diamonds, it’s a different story. During July’s High Jewelry Week in Paris, heritage houses doubled down on yellow diamonds.

Graff

Centerpiece of its Sunrise exhibition at Graff’s Paris flagship by Place Vendôme was a new high jewelry necklace centrepieced by a 30 carat fancy intense yellow pear shaped diamond surrounded by a further 138 carats in both yellow and white.

“The pavé makes the yellow look more intense,” said Graff Art Director Anne Eva Goffrey who described how the stone seems to be floating thanks to Graff’s hallmark setting technique where the metal joins are practically invisible.

Graff has long been synonymous with yellow diamonds. House founder Laurence Graff was one of the first to introduce the yellow diamond when everyone else was focused on the white, she said, adding that now, “more ladies choose yellow over white when it comes to engagement rings.”

Purpose of the exhibition is to show how many the different gradations of yellow there can be. “Normally when you think of yellow diamonds you only think about one color but wanted to show all the very different saturations we work with.”

While handcraftsmanship is and always will be paramount, she says, the house still pushes the limits when it comes to innovative technology. The studio uses 3D printing during the prototyping process to refine the volumes and articulations.

“It’s very useful because we gain time and it gives the workshop more precision but you need the balance. When you make jewelry by hand, it has a soul and the pieces talk with emotion. If you just do it with a computer, that’s impossible.”

Messika

While Valerie Messika founded her fine jewelry brand some 17 years ago, 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of its high jewelry line. The celebratory new Midnight Sun collection — of which musician and former French First Lady, Carla Bruni is the face — is inspired by the emblematic night life of ‘70s Paris and New York that played out in venues from Le Palace to Studio 54.

When she launched high jewelry, the goal was to make it wearable she said: “To put the same proposition you get in regular jewelry into high jewelry.” Hence diamonds designed for the night club rather than the gala.

Messika chose yellow diamonds to realize the concept. “I love the contrast between the yellow and the (more traditional) white,” she said at her brand’s presentation during Paris High Jewelry Week. “The white becomes more white because of he yellow and the yellow becomes more yellow. They complete each other.”

This contemporary way of doing things extends to the strategy of aligning Messika with the universe of luxury fashion. The brand shows only a teaser during July’s traditional high jewelry calendar, unveiling the full collection at an event in September over Paris Fashion Week.

Buccellati

For Mosaico, Buccellati’s 50-piece high jewelry collection, third generation creative director, Andrea Buccellati drew on archive pieces crafted by his grandfather, house founder Mario Buccellati.

Flexible bracelets, bib-necklaces, cocktail rings, and pendant earrings with their pavé diamonds and colored gems — including yellow fancy diamonds — are inspired by the colors and shapes of the glass paste tesserae of Byzantine-era mosaics. Pieces often combine white and yellow gold — another Buccellati signature.

The bracelets follow the shape of the arms and can also be folded up like a piece of fabric. made by using the chaining technique, spearheaded by Mario Buccellati in the 1920s.

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