ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories: Haute Joaillerie

Sunday, 5 January 2014

DIOR's Ephemeral Boutique in Courchevel

Frosted walls, stalactites of plants and blocks of ice: DIOR has recently opened a new ephemeral store in the French upscale ski resort of Courchevel within the Cheval Blanc luxury hotel owned and operated by Dior’s parent company LVMH Group. The store in Courchevel is home of the house's women's collection from January 3rd until April 10th, 2014, in a dreamlike atmosphere shrouded in snow.

It's a winter garden hidden away in the heart of the Alps, a captivating cocoon of twinkling silver and gold. Subtly metallic, the wooden walls look like they've been shrouded with a precious frost; in the center of the store, just like a skillfully architectural block of ice, an installation of mirrors and silver wall panels reflects the accessory, timepiece and jewelry collections. Further on we find the resort 2014 collection, in a smoky mirror-lined setting, inspired by the decoration of Raf Simons' fashion shows for Dior. There, cascading from the ceiling like a paper snowfall, lush foliage sprouts white leaves. This poetic vegetation, which gives the boutique the feeling of a garden in winter, is the work of the artist collective Wanda, which already decorated the Dior Joaillerie store on Paris' Place Vendôme, and reinterpreted the Lady Dior bag in the Lady Dior As Seen By traveling exhibition.

In the windows too, their paper tendrils erupt in cascades, falling in immaculate stalactites among the colorful dresses, or winding among Victoire de Castellane's jewelry creations. In this setting of snowy and icy tones, dresses, shoes and jewels appear in dazzling shades. Three bags tricked out in bright hues serve to particularly draw the eye: created specially for the boutique by the Dior artisans, the one-offs revisit the iconic Lady Dior and Diorissimo in an ultra precious crocodile incarnation. Three-color versions in bright pink, midnight blue and beige, or bicolor in red and sable, these exceptional pieces contrast with the store's white decor, paying homage to Monsieur Dior's love of color.

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: The House of DIOR

Cheval Blanc Courchevel
Le Jardin Alpin
73120 Courchevel 1850 - France
Fon +33 4 79 00 50 50
Fax +33 4 79 00 50 51

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“I wanted to do something with lace for a long time, but to twist it, create something more edgy, so it almost becomes futuristic,” said Simons at the show venue, a purpose-built minimalist structure perched over an unusually raging sea, the result of an unseasonable downpour.'

Monday, 17 December 2012

Homage to Surrealism | Lydia Courteille Jewellery

"Diamonds, rubies, green garnets, white and yellow sapphires are combined with semi-precious stones such as jade, pink jasper and onyx in white gold and rhodium settings." Lydia Courteille

Definitely, one of these precious items is on my Christmas Wish-List, and if you'd like, follow my linkage to each collection theme of Lydia Courteille, and take a view and inspiration for wonderful presents to offer your 'beloved' (not only for Christmas!).

Love, Andrea

Lydia has everything of a mischievous heroine in a boudoir, with a doll’s face and her hair, cut with a cheeky fringe; Lydia Courteille is a Parisian fairy tale reknown for her cabinet of curiosities where she pulls the strings, 100% dreamlike.

This year Lydia Courteille was debuting in the international jewelry show 'Couture', Las Vegas, which reunites every year in America the most remarkable jewelers in the world. Lydia presented her latest collection «Amazonia». The prestigious members of the jury (Susan Abels, Stephen Webster, Janice Blumberg, Eric Ford, Claudia Mata & Alison Rowe) selected from over 200 participants the most innovative, creative and bold designs. Lydia Courteille was chosen award winner as the best «colored gemstone design» for the green turquoise bracelet with diamonds, emeralds and green garnets.

2012 Design Award by Lydia Courteille - Congratulations!

Her Parisian boutique is 'petite', but unique for it’s 19th century vitrines, where a baroque sentiment is guarantied, set against velvety midnight blue and it’s number: 231, almost the Faubourg but already Saint Honoré, refurbished by Roxanne Rodriguez debut 2012.

Here, you meet the stylish, the fanciful and the feminine literary figures with their vamp-jeweled fingers; women with spirit for these conversational jewels. It is here; in this Orphean decoration that Lydia Courteille cultivates her dreams, like in a greenhouse. An incredible carnival of vintage jewellery, gleaned through the lifetime of a passionate antiquarian, fond of the extraordinary, who decides, one day, to create what she was relentlessly searching for.

Collection 'Esotericism' by Lydia Courteille

Collection 'My secret garden' by Lydia Courteille

Collection 'Vanities' by Lydia Courteille

Collection 'To Cassandra' by Lydia Courteille

Turquoise, opal, jade, coral, ivory – every vitrine has its color, its theme. Her creations are like stories to be read. There is the imaginary of a terrifying bestiary worthy of Jérome Bosch paintings, from which she diverts the diabolical for the beauty of their forms: snakes, bats, wasps, frogs or monkeys adorned with diamonds are on familiar terms with gargantuesque stones, cut to amaze, so much so that the volumes express themselves largely on one’s hand. Each piece of jewelry is unique and all the big names of the ‘Place’ neighboring don’t hesitate to inspire themselves from them, for their “no limit” imagination.

Amongst her huge list of clients are celebrities such as Alber Elbaz, Arielle Dombasle, Brooke Shields, Carine Roitfeld, Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni, Daphne Guinness, Diane von Furstenberg, Fendi, Giambattista Valli, Karl Lagerfeld, Loulou de la Falaise, Mick Jagger, Victoire de Castellane, Stella McCartney.