Cannes and Chopard go together like hot butter on a breakfast toast. In fact the two are virtually inseperable since 15 years ago Caroline Scheufele, co-President of Chopard, decided it would be a good idea to become a jewellery partner for the event. It all makes perfect sense as both Chopard and Cannes thrive on glamour, sparkle and celebrities. And the fun continues at this the 65th Cannes Film Festival with more brightly coloured gems than ever before.
Each year Chopard creates a special collection of high jewellery to showcase, and presumably sell, at the Cannes Film Festival. This year the Red Carpet collection consists of 65 pieces, to mark the 65th anniversary of the film festival and the theme is all about colour. Bright, explosions of vivid pinks contrast with cooler watery shades of pearls. The majestic hue of violet tanzanite adds opulence to the tranquil green of a lush emerald.
Caroline Scheufele tells us that in her work as a designer, it is the shimmering colours of precious stones that nurture her imagination. For this collection, she has chosen stones such as rubies, emeralds, padparadscha sapphires, amethysts and tourmalines - without forgetting diamonds "my favourite stone and an indispensable ally for women on the red carpet", according to Caroline Scheufele.
And with the work of the design team, headed by Caroline Scheufele and the craftsmen and women, the stones are transformed in a treasure trove of delights, all on show on the sunny roof terrace of the Chopard Lounge in the Hotel Martinez in Cannes. Five months of work ior 13,000 hours at the bench in the Chopard ateliers by 35 craftsmen has transformed 70,000 precious stones totalling 9'000 carats of precious stones into 65 gems for your delight.
The highlight of the collection is the Marilyn Monroe necklace that has been created in honour of the muse of the Festival for 2012. A high collared bib of diamond lace cascade down the neck, shimmering with over 300 briolette, brilliant and heart shaped diamonds. Read more about this spectacular jewel by clicking here.
Humour is always present and a whopping great big apple ring is zesty enough to sink your teeth into. Made up of some 800 tsavorites and more than 200 brown diamonds totalling 57.2 carats it sits proud on the finger and can't help to make you smile.
The collection was clearly appealing to the stars as well. Jane Fonda turned up on the first day at the Chopard Lounge to secure her choice of jewels for the red carpet and chose long drop emerald earrings for her first appearances in the spotlight. Lana del Rey chose the unusual Rats necklace from the Red Carpet collection, adorned with heart shaped tourmalines, fully paved with grey and pink diamonds. For another appearance she chose a more traditional pear shaped light yellow diamond, fully decorated with white diamonds.
For the high profile AmfAR dinner in Hotel de Cap, Kylie Minogue wore a three strand all-diamond necklace to set off her vivid red dress with a generous décolletage. As a twist to the classic diamond necklace, this model features alternating and contrasting diamond cuts.
Eva Herzigova stole the limelight when she wore the Marilyn necklace at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival as the hundreds of sparkling diamonds shimmered in the afternoon sun. Carmen Chaplin made the pink sapphires earrings very much her own when she teamed them with a simple but elegant brown dress to dramatic effect. In contrast, Liu Wen when for full on glamour with the Floral cuff bracelet from the Red Carpet collection in titanium set with rubies that positively sizzled against her slinky black lace dress. Colour was once again on Liu Wen's mind when she combined earrings from the Red Carpet collection, suspending two briolette tanzanites, adorned with spinels, amethysts with a bottle green dress.
