
Victoire de Castellane, the artistic director of Dior jewellery, is the brain behind Tie & Dior, the luxury brand’s latest jewellery collection. It is her take on the vibrant tie-dye craft, one that fashion brands, as though in a collective rebellion against global happenings, are featuring more and more in their collections.
The Tie & DIOR collection is an exciting blend of coloured stones that create an impact with contrast. This exhibits itself clearly as in the delectable emerald ring surrounded by a burst of pink sapphires, tsavorite garnets, paraiba-type tourmaline, rubies and a pistachio cultured pearl.
What about the pair of mismatched earrings – a de Castellane signature, where colour blocks of pink and blue sapphires, tsavorite garnets, paraiba-type tourmaline plus two gobstopper-size emeralds ooze from two pistachio coloured pearls… it’s a jewelry lover’s delight.
The potpourri of colours pops further, thanks to subtle white diamonds that edge each shade, a defining, sparkling outline, but also a nod to white cloth or paper peeking out from below the tie-dye. This is the first time that de Castellane has significantly used pearls in her 20 years at Dior.
She has been a long-time fan of the ultra-classic stone, but Tie & Dior finally released her to use pearls in a more original way. Rakishly set off-centre, de Castellane’s pearls – in candy pinks, golden yellows and sherbet greens, seem almost haphazardly thrown onto her voluminous creations, clinging to the base of a necklace or jauntily resting on a ring. The stone offers an eye-catching contrast; its velvety finish colliding with the angular stones.
While peppy, kaleidoscopic colours dominate, some pieces are more classical in style, such as a golden cultured pearl that sits among a fan of white diamonds cut in all manner of shapes and sizes. This showcases de Castellane’s knack for texture and volume; or a ruby and diamond suite where white diamonds spread out from a central ruby stone, any hint of classicism disrupted by an oversized white pearl that feels almost randomly chucked on. It’s refreshing and ironic.
The collection launched last month at a private event in Shanghai and isn’t available yet to the general public.