The buzz in Paris last week was all about Boucheron. The French house’s latest high jewelry collection generated so much talk that nearly everyone on the Place Vendôme was asking, “Have you seen Boucheron yet?!” For its latest Carte Blanche collection—it’s name is French for Clean Slate, and in it, creative director Claire Choisne is given free rein to let her imagination run wild—the maison delivered a wildly fun ’80s-themed collection inspired by the colorful and graphic Memphis Movement, founded by Italian architect, Ettore Sottsass, that included a group of creatives that created a specific style of postmodern furniture, lighting, fabrics and more throughout the ’80s that mimicked the joie de vivre of the era.
The result was a wildly imaginative collection that pushed the boundaries of high jewelry (or any jewelry for that matter) to new heights. In fact, with pieces like a Rubik’s cube necklace, gem-set hoodie tassels that transform into earrings, a funky hair tie on a rubber band that transforms into a ring that looks like a Ring Pop or a shockingly cool diamond-and-onyx pocket that fits an iPhone and attaches to any piece of clothing with magnets…we felt like we were looking at the future of jewelry. Gone are the days when haute joallerie was relegated to black-tie galas. This is how Gen Z and all the generations that follow will think about and wear high jewelry.
We saw the collection in person last week, where the Boucheron team had gone so far as to have custom-made outfits in solid pops of cherry red, lime green, tangerine orange, and more, to drive home the message. The pieces are truly more impressive IRL, as most jewelry is, but in this case, there is an extra layer of “must-see.” That pocket, for instance, was created with creases just like the one on your pants so that it folds in layers when you sit down. That stiff-looking striped bow hairpiece? It’s actually flexible and bends in case a tilt of the head brushes it against the collarbone.
A colleague DM’ed me on Instagram after seeing my live posts on the collection and said, “Beyond. Such a startling departure. But will it sell?!?” It’s a fair question. Like most trailblazing art, the work isn’t initially accepted by everyone but high jewelry, by nature, isn’t for the masses. But to his point, high jewelry clients are not necessarily avant-garde. So, who isbuying? One client, who is said to have bought several pieces holds not one, but three PhDs, that’s who. Like the jewelry, these clients are anything but ordinary and nothing short of extraordinary.
Boucheron In the Pocket Accessory and An Apple A Day Ring and Bracelet
Boucheron In the Pocket is a literal pocket crafted in diamonds and onyx that affixes to clothing via magnets strong enough to hold your iPhone. An Apple A Day Ring and Bracelet can be combined to form one solid sphere of tsavorites set in titanium and white gold to double as an objet for the home.
Boucheron Pull Me Hoodie Tassels
Boucheron Pull Me Hoodie Tassels are 40 centimeters long and crafted in citrine, diamonds, cachalong, lacquer, white opal, yellow gold titanium, and aluminum. The piece if affixed to clothing via ultra-stron magnets and the tassel ends detach to become earrings.
Boucheron Just An Illusion Necklace
Boucheron Just An Illusion Necklace in diamonds and spessartite Mandarin garnets set in rock crystal and decorated with hyceram in titanium and white gold is made to curve atop the shoulders like a royal livery collar.
Boucheron Solve Me Necklace
Boucheron’s Solve Me necklace is crafted to look like a Rubik’s cube and comes decorated in diamonds, grey spinels, pink sapphires, and set with mother-of-pearl in aluminum and white gold. Like the actual cubes in a Rubik’s puzzle, they are not perfect squares but actually are slightly angled underneath, allowing it to position better on the neck.
Boucheron I Got Your Back hair jewel and This Is Not a Scrunchie hair tie
Boucheron I Got Your Back hair jewel with diamonds, lacquer, and white gold; This Is Not a Scrunchie hair tie with tsavorites and mother-of-pearl decorated with lacquer and set in titanium converts into a ring.
Boucheron Tie the Knot Brooch and Hair Jewel
Boucheron Tie the Knot can be either a brooch or a hair jewel and is made with diamonds set in red bioacetate and magnesium. Bio acetate is made from wood paste and cotton fibers and is, therefore, ultralight. The use of magnesium is a first in the world of high jewelry and the metal is 30 percent as light as aluminum. The strips of material are shaped and then dyed black by a cataphoresis treatment before being set. This piece required 200 parts to create and, despite its looks, is actually flexible where it falls over the collarbone.
Boucheron Rings
(From Left to Right): Boucheron ring set with mother-of-pearl, paved with tsavorites, and decorated with lacquer, in resin and titanium; Ring set with diamonds, in resin and titanium; Ring set with Murano glass, paved with diamonds, and decorated with lacquer, in resin, titanium, and white gold; Ring paved with diamonds, yellow sapphires, and set with rock crystal, in resin, titanium, and white gold.
Boucheron Do Not Iron Brooches
(Left, Clockwise): Boucheron Do Not Iron Brooch set with sapphires, quartz, and mother-of-pearl, paved with diamonds, and decorated with lacquer, in white gold; Do Not Iron Brooch paved with diamonds, and decorated with lacquer, in silver and white gold; Do Not Iron Brooch paved with diamonds, and decorated with lacquer, in silver and white gold. (Right): Do Not Iron Brooch set with a 2.14 carat Mozambique tourmaline, and chrysoprases, paved with yellow sapphires, and diamonds, decorated with lacquer, in yellow and white gold.
