STYLE Edit: How space inspired Van Cleef & Arpels’ new collection: Sous Les Étoiles features high jewellery pieces named for Helios, the Greek god of the sun, Halley’s Comet and cepheid stars

The cosmos has always been alluring to humanity; we gaze at it constantly, conduct experiments to decode its mysteries, and even make up fantastical tales to explain celestial phenomena.

For Van Cleef & Arpels, the starry sky and the wealth of interpretations around it are ripe sources of inspiration for its dazzling creations.

“The maison has always been interested in the instant where observing nature encounters poetry and the imagination,” explains Nicolas Bos, president and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels.

Today, 10 years after the brand’s Les Voyages Extraordinaires collection, which drew from Jules Verne’s 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon, the brand introduces the Sous les Étoiles collection, which celebrates humanity’s myths, mysteries and epiphanies about the stars. Drawing from literary works to scientific truths about the stars in our sky, the collection is one that will prove just as magnetic and captivating as the stars themselves.

If there is one piece that’s not to be missed, it is the Hélios long necklace, named after the sun god of Greek mythology who would bring light to the world every morning by flying across the sky in his golden chariot.

The necklace is striking but elegant, composed of diamonds and cultured pearls suspended in a halo of white and yellow gold. At the heart of the necklace is a resplendent yellow Sri Lankan sapphire, weighing in at an astounding 50.38 carats.

The necklace, complete with a tassel of pearls, can be worn in three different lengths, with or without the pendant, and can be transformed into a diadem crowned by a large pear-shaped diamond that usually sits at the wearer’s nape. This transformation reflects the ever-changing light of day, wrought by Hélios traversing the skies in his chariot.