Inside Cartier’s star-studded high jewellery launch in Florence, Italy: Le Voyage Recommencé event welcomed A-list guests from Elle Fanning and Riley Keough to Adrien Brody and Gong Li

May 30 , 2023

Gong Li at Cartier’s Le Voyage Recommencé high jewellery launch on May 24, in Florence, Italy. Photos: Cartier

Stars like Gong Li and Elle Fanning dressed to the nines to welcome Cartier’s latest high jewellery collection, Le Voyage Recommencé unveiled at in Florence, Italy last week

Cyrille Vigneron, CEO of Cartier, described the new line as ‘classic and audacious’ while Jacqueline Karachi, the house’s director of high jewellery creation, added that it also gives a modern twist

“Classic and audacious”: This is how Cyrille Vigneron, CEO of Cartier, describes the house’s latest high jewellery collection, Le Voyage Recommencé, unveiled at a star-studded event in Florence, Italy, last Wednesday attended by the likes of Gong Li, Elle Fanning, Adrien Brody and Riley Keough.

Stars strutting out at Cartier’s Le Voyage Recommencé event on May 24, in Florence, Italy.

Florence was the cradle of Renaissance or “rebirth”, Vigneron says, “when architects, designers, artists and philosophers looked at the past and ancient Rome and from that found ways to realise something absolutely modern”.

This idea of looking to the past while also staying relevant to current times is at the heart of Cartier’s high jewellery, a rarefied realm characterised by one-of-a-kind pieces made with the rarest stones. While the journey obviously starts with the raw materials – from diamonds to rubies, emeralds and sapphires – design is just as important. “High jewellery is unique pieces, serving the stones, so each piece is a journey starting again,” Vigneron says. “A stone is very generous but also unique and with that comes that freedom to create something really special.”

Riley Keough at Cartier’s Le Voyage Recommencé event on May 24, in Florence, Italy.

Inspiration at Cartier often comes from flora and fauna – iconic elements like Panthère and Tutti Frutti always reappear – but shapes are never too literal and it’s this combination of nature and abstract that makes Cartier high jewellery so intriguing. Is that a wave or just a pattern evoking the ocean?

Gong Li at Cartier’s Le Voyage Recommencé event on May 24, in Florence, Italy.

A fellow editor admiring the pieces in Florence couldn’t help but mutter, “I wish they would be available in rhinestones or crystals so I could actually buy them.” This is not something that you often hear about high jewellery creations, which are often slightly detached from reality and meant for grand galas or to be hidden in jewellery boxes as collectibles.