Dior is mad about roses so I have seen plenty of bejewelled blooms, buds and thorny stems at this maison. But Le Bal des Roses, the new high jewellery collection by Victoire de Castellane, knocked my socks right off. See the video to be transported to Planet Jewel. Dior's new high jewellery collection of twelve different roses is called the Bal de Roses, designed by Victoire de Castellane. Couture and jewels come together as de Castellane imagines what it would be like if roses wore ball gowns. Walking through the rose-scented gardens of the Musée Rodin in Paris, past the master sculptor's great works made for a pleasant stroll on a warm summer's day. Pleasantly lulled I arrived at the Dior pop-up exhibition area in the far corner of the garden. Walking past arbours of perfect pink roses, the impact of this astounding new collection, almost made my knees buckle - and it wasn't just because, twit that I am, wore high heels for my gravel path stroll. A completely blacked out room was punctuated by twelve little glowing bundles of mystery that appeared to float in the dark. Star-bright, sparkling forms, as delicate as sea anemones lured me in with their surreal gelatinous colours. Closer inspection - and this is when my knees got a bit wobbly - revealed rings, earrings and necklaces in the form of roses. But what roses. I have never seen any flowers like these - real, imagined, celestial or extraterrestrial. [youtube width="620" height="344"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXylTyhRVt4&feature=feedu[/youtube] I can't pin down where these roses may bloom, other than in Victoire's imagination. On a distant planet, deep below the waves, in a Disney cartoon, in an erotic Manga fantasy? The possibilities are thrilling. But even more intringuing, just how does she pull hard stones into glossy, rippling, bulging shapes like taffy? How naughty to treat diamonds with the ease of a baker with a generous hand sprinkling sugar on his pretty little cakes. What charm has she cast on those opals, spinels, sapphires, chrysoprase, garnets and emeralds to coax them into such languid leisure? 'Each of the twelve roses is preparing to go to a ball', is how Victoire later explained the surreal logic to these jewels. 'And each on has its own personality and style', she adds. Are you still with me? And then of course, each one is in a different mood and changes according to the different seasons. I think you get the gist, these roses are way out there. Almost all the jewels were sold; and I was one of the first journalists to see them. So my advice is to drop all preconceptions about jewellery and sit back and enjoy this extraordinary show of interplanetary, ultra solitary delight.
