Paris Couture week saw Piaget unveil Couture Précieuse, their new collection the entirety of which will be seen at this year's September Biennale des Antiquaires. With 59 pieces of high jewellery and 12 high jewellery watches, this is their largest and most ambitious collection yet.
Moving on from the celebration of the Yves Piaget rose of their recent work this collection explores the idea of feminine seduction. Couture Précieuse uses the limited colour palette of white diamonds, red rubellites, and mysterious black spinels and is all made with white gold. The theme is all about the finer instruments of surprise and seduction, such as lace, corsets, ribbons and tassels. The collection is marked by a lightness of feeling created by openwork settings that we saw in more than one collection during Couture Week as well as a tendency to mix diamond cuts such as brilliants and baguettes to create a richer sparkle and a more youthful look.
Take a look at one of the highlights of this new collection, the Couture Précieuse necklace described by Piaget as "Diamond Embroidery Inspiration". This lace-like piece is set with 1513 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 44.19ct), 133 baguette-cut diamonds (approx. 16.77ct), 4 pear-shaped diamonds (approx. 7.55ct) and 11 rose-cut diamonds (approx. 5.96ct). Like a collar of lace it both enhances yet gently carresses the neckline thanks to its flexible structure. It is these articulated elements in this and other pieces that ensure the jewellery clings close to the body, giving a comfortable, more intimate, fit.
The Couture Précieuse necklace 'Radiant Laces Inspiration' is such an example, an elegant curve across the neckline delicately accentuated by one pear-shaped black spinel. The necklace is set with 298 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx.15.37ct), and 2 pear-shaped diamonds (approx.0.59ct) that mirror the spinel itself.
And it's not just the jewellery that benefits from this seductive inspiration, there are the high jewellery watches too. Two particular watches stick out, and one of them could be described as a new sort of secret watch; the Couture Précieuse Exceptional cuff watch sits confidently yet comfortably on the wrist, seemingly at first glance a Piaget cuff of looping bands of gold set with bands of brilliant cut and baguette diamonds. Yet it has been designed so as to keep the watch face on the inside of the wrist, allowing you to check the time secretly and discreetly.
The other horological highlight in this collection doesn't tell the time so discreetly: the Couture Précieuse cuff watch "Diamond Embroidery Inspiration" is a slinky number that made jaws drop during Couture week.The case is set with 69 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 0.5ct) and the dial is snow-set with 331 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx.1.4ct). It wraps around the wrist with Piaget's mesh cuff, showing the rare skills of their chain makers who weave each cuff by hand. Gold is plaited, knitted and twisted like the work of a couturier; and a direct reference to Piaget's mesh cuffs of the seventies.
With this ambitious jewellery collection Piaget can confidently declare that they have certainly succeeded in creating a collection that scintillates with temptation, seduction and femininity.
