5 nature-inspired high jewellery pieces

Colours in gold are subject to slow-burning trends. The bright yellow that the word “gold” brings to mind dominated jewellery in the 1960s and 70s before being tarnished by the brash gilt costume jewellery of the early 1980s. It was replaced by the cool sobriety of white gold jewellery during the 1990s and early millennium years, then warmed up with rose gold in the past decade, before coming full circle to that bright, upbeat yellow again.

It is serendipitous that 1974 should be chosen as the stepping-off point for Celine, for that same year Elsa Peretti joined Tiffany & Co. in New York. The former Halston model flouted convention by offering affordable diamond jewellery with a fun and youthful spirit in her revolutionary “Diamonds by the Yard” design for Tiffany – a fine yellow gold chain dotted with diamonds. “I wanted to make diamonds easy to wear,” she explained at the time.

No idea how to wear haute couture? Here’s how

It was an instant success: clients could buy any length of diamond chain they desired, wind it around their necks, let it glint in the sunlight under an open-necked silk shirt or loop sexily low over one of Diane von Furstenberg’s famous wrap dresses.

Peretti’s design for Tiffany & Co. boosted the trend for these long, low chains of fine yellow gold (sautoir) that became very fashionable during the mid-70s. At the same time, stylish women in France, such as Princess Grace and singer Françoise Hardy, were snapping up Van Cleef & Arpels’ long, talismanic Alhambra necklaces. Originally designed in 1968, the range was expanded to include exotic stones. Instead of wearing a single statement necklace, women started layering multiple pieces of different lengths along with multiple gold bangles and rings to create a deluxe hippie look. The 50th anniversary of the vintage Alhambra design in 2018 has prompted a fresh surge in popularity, especially among younger clients like Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

How did Kate, not Meghan, end up with Princess Di’s engagement ring?

Last year, Boucheron added its own interpretations of the delicate yellow gold sautoir, with a series of designs featuring turquoise and diamonds in the Serpent Bohème and gold and diamond Jack de Boucheron collections. The latter, a round snake chain, can be worn as a necklace or coiled around the wrist or in the hair.

Fine gold chain sautoirs are a speciality of Italian jewellers Fope, Marco Bicego, Roberto Coin and Faraone Mennella. The Italians are renowned goldsmiths, with many family-run businesses in the Vicenza area of northern Italy making gold chains in all sizes, showcasing varying levels of intricacy. Fope, for instance, has been specialising in making gold chains for 90 years, and has devised innovative techniques, such as the stretchy Flex’it.

8 new Question Mark necklaces added to Boucheron’s Signature collection

Sometimes, these long, skinny chains carry pendants. There is infinite choice: Louis Vuitton’s diamond Blossom design; Piaget’s new golden Sunlight pendants in mother of pearl or colourful stones; Chopard’s signature Happy Diamond pendants and Ice Cube collection that uses 18-carat ethical gold, and the prickly ball Cactus de Cartier pendants, a recent and quirky 1960s-inspired design full of warmth and sparkle. These are the perfect items for casual glamour.

Far from casual but the epitome of luxurious 1970s gold jewellery is Bulgari, which adopts a hedonistic approach. Worked in smooth contoured shapes, the yellow metal has been one of the brand’s trademarks since the 1970s, unlike any other precious metal.

When secret watches meet high-end jewellery

One of the most characteristic and successful creations is the gold Tubogas, a flexible band of shiny, sleek contours created by wrapping long gold strips around a degradable core that is dissolved once the piece is finished.

The Tubogas is familiar today in Serpente watches, while Bulgari’s contemporary jewellery dials down the gold to more refined, sensuous designs, such as the long Serpente pendant in pavé diamonds and malachite, which drops long below the midriff. It is yet another illustration of how yellow gold is finding its 70s groove again.

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .