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It is two weeks before the VIP launch of Dior Joaillerie’s Diorama & Diorigami collection, and I am in Paris with two of the house’s biggest names as they prepare for the day. On one side is Victoire de Castellane, the creative director of Dior Joaillerie, who will be accessorising the models with more than 100 pieces of jewellery; on the fashion side is Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s creative director, who has designed 25 couture outfits to complement the jeweller’s sparkling pieces.
When the models walk in wearing Chiuri’s couture, it is the first time that de Castellane has seen the clothes. It is obvious that she is immediately inspired.
“I love the spontaneity of today,” she says, as each outfit comes out. “I like to imagine that I’m receiving one of the dresses and that I’m trying to fit it with my jewellery.”
Backstage at the Diorama & Diorigami presentation in Florence; dress, Dior, and Diorama & Diorigami necklace in pink gold, diamonds, rubies, pink sapphires, cultured pearls and lacquer by Dior Joaillerie
PIERRE MOUTON
The final event, held in the 14th-century Basilica di Santa Maria Novella in Florence, will be the result of months of work by Chiuri’s atelier and years of work by de Castellane’s. The collaboration appears to have been pretty straightforward. “We have a great amount of respect and appreciation for each other as friends,” Chiuri says. “I have always considered my role to be primarily a supporting one. What I mean is that the clothes I design for the haute jewellery show must be in dialogue with Victoire’s jewellery in a way that highlights her designs as much as possible.”
De Castellane describes their work relationship as “very free, very easy as always, very spontaneous and happy”. Speaking about the inspiration for her collection, she says: “I keep it simple, just a concept. In this case it was the fabric of toile de Jouy.”
The pattern is a recurring one in the house of Dior, first adorning the walls of its 30 Avenue Montaigne boutique in 1947. For this show, de Castellane has translated its naturalistic landscapes into precious metal and gemstones. It “looks like toile de Jouy that we’ve cut up and placed on the body as jewellery”, she says. Large necklace scenes are inhabited by carved chalcedony deer and tiny diamond owls, while precious rabbits, hedgehogs, swans and squirrels sit in forests of rubies and emeralds, trees of pearls, and intricate lacquer and gemstone details.
Chiuri, struck by the colours of the gems, “used a material called moiré, which has an incredible brightness” in vivid shades of pink, green, red and yellow, cut into classic Dior silhouettes. “I also created two new types of toile de Jouy for the occasion,” Chiuri says. “One inspired by Paris and one inspired by Florence.”
The models at the launch were accessorised with more than 100 pieces of jewellery
PIERRE MOUTON
As models enter the room, de Castellane styles each according to “their proportions, the colour of their skin and how the jewellery will fit and look against the clothes”. A big necklace often goes on first, then rings, a hair jewel, maybe a diamond belt or ear cuff, perhaps an anklet. Pieces are removed and swapped in a process described as “musical chairs”.
Large trestle tables contain trays of Diorama & Diorigami designs as well as pieces from past collections. This is a huge game of mix and match.
“I imagine the moment the girls are walking at the show and I love the idea of seeing shine and sparkle on different parts of the body, something that you might glimpse from afar, and the idea of discovering something unexpected,” de Castellane says.
Victoire de Castellane at a fitting in Paris; Dearest Dior necklace in white gold, diamonds and yellow diamonds and Diorama & Diorigami belt in white gold, diamonds, cultured pearl and mother of pearl by Dior Joaillerie
SOPHIE CARRE
She describes her styling aesthetic as “finding balance in something chaotic … I like the asymmetry of mismatched earrings or multiple rings on one hand and I love mixing the different Dior jewellery families. That’s how you should wear jewellery, not always as a parure or a set but with a twist, so it’s relaxed and contemporary.”
The day after the Florence show, the jewellery is displayed at the Villa San Michele hotel so clients can take a second look. Discreet stickers indicate that most of the collection has sold — which clearly delights de Castellane and Chiuri. As the latter says of their relationship: “Our collaboration is close, reciprocal, a meeting of two design approaches. And yes, we are immensely proud of the result.”
De Castellane is pragmatic. “Fate? Luck? Maybe it’s because we’re two women — it’s easier!” she jokes. Whatever the reason, it’s a pairing that sparkles.
dior.com
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