STYLE Edit: Gucci’s first high jewellery collection a triumph for Alessandro Michele’s poetic vision
There are more than 200 pieces in the mythical garden of Hortus Deliciarum, most of them unique
There are moments in every writer’s life when the editor asks the impossible.
“Pick the two best highlights from Gucci’s first high jewellery collection, Hortus Deliciarum.” However, each piece is stunning, and choosing just two from a collection of more than 200 is no easy feat.
The collection is the creative brainchild of Alessandro Michele, who evokes a mythical garden. In this garden, which could be Eden, is a serpent, not lurking but presiding over paradise.
On one ring, the coiled serpent is marvellously crafted from opal, the colours rippling through its body and its diamond eyes glittering. It is the solitaire of a large yellow gold ring.
Michele lives up to his reputation for “poetic vision”, with three themes within his garden. Eternal love is one theme, characterised by hearts and arrows, the second is majestic animals, including heads of lions, tigers and snakes, and, finishing with a flourish, Michele offers a collection within a collection of extraordinary solitaires.
Colours are vibrant in the Garden of Delights, with multicoloured gemstones trembling from earrings or creating a vivid contrast to a foliage of white diamonds, as in the white diamond necklace which is a garden in itself. It is endlessly fascinating in its dense foliage studded with oval gemstones, centred by an opal with two more opals offered left and right with more gems forming tiny insects, or bees.
There are more than 200 pieces in Hortus Deliciarum, most of them unique. Gucci has created the perfect setting for the collection, and its fine jewellery, in 16 Place Vendôme, Paris. The address is an indicator of great things in the jewellery world, and Gucci has designed its space to bring out the full colour and vibrancy of the gems. It is elegant with ebonised wood display cabinets lined in verdeacqua satin. Mirrors in the antique style reflect the beauty of the jewels.
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