Paris has once again become the glittering stage for the unveiling of this season’s high jewellery collections, where creativity knows no bounds and nature is endlessly reimagined. This time around, the maisons have pushed their craft to thrilling new heights – sculpting precious metals and gemstones into living tributes to water, flora, fauna and light itself. From Chanel’s star-spangled revelry to Chaumet’s elegant nods to nature, here we explore the best high jewellery collections to come out of couture week. Emily Phillips
Chanel
There’s a golden hour so brief it feels like a secret, and Chanel bottles its glow in the new Reach for the Stars high jewellery collection. Inspired by Gabrielle Chanel’s fearless pursuit of radiant, rebellious glamour, the collection, dreamed up by the late Patrice Leguéreau and the Chanel Fine Jewelry Creation Studio, shimmers with audacity and grace. Here, winged diamonds unfurl like delicate lace across collarbones, comet tails streak into dazzling cascades and lions – Mademoiselle Chanel’s own zodiac totem – roar in sculpted gold and blazing diamonds.
The first offering, Elegance of Wings, sees diamond plumage flutter for the very first time like airy lace across necks and wrists, Padparadscha sapphires and tanzanites echoing that magical pink-orange sky. The second, Comet’s Freedom to Shine, captures starlight in cascades of diamonds and onyx, transforming rings into delicate hand jewels and chokers into glittering constellations. And the third, The Audacity of the Lion, roars with sculpted feline profiles and majestic medallions, draped in clouds of white and yellow diamonds. “We wanted to create pieces of jewellery that are illuminated by the rays of the sunset and beyond,” said Leguéreau and the studio, “with those colours blazing across the horizon. Capturing that magical moment between day and night when high jewellery sparkles on the skin.” With Chanel, we don’t just wear jewels. We take flight. EP
Dior
Step into Dior’s latest reverie: the Diorexquis haute joaillerie collection, where Victoire de Castellane once again spins Monsieur Dior’s passions into glittering fables. This season, she conjures a trio of Diorian delights loved by the famed couturier – enchanted landscapes, delicate blooms and lavish galas – each jewel a miniature stage for nature’s whimsical drama.
Think icy winters rendered in diamond-frosted florets, spring’s giddy rebirth splashed across gemstone petals and summer’s sun-dappled revelry caught in kaleidoscopic opal doublets. Yes, that ingenious layering of opal over onyx or mother-of-pearl gives us stones that are both as moody as stormy seas and as tender as a dawn sky.
Ever the alchemist, de Castellane also dazzles with plique-à-jour, Dior Joaillerie’s signature technique, where lacquer blossoms into tiny stained glass windows. Light pours through, igniting a thousand dancing hues – proof that magic still exists if you look closely enough.
This is high jewellery not simply worn, but lived – each piece a whisper of Christian Dior’s eternal romance with beauty, nature and dreams. EP
Photography by Markn
Chaumet
Chaumet’s latest high jewellery collection, Jewels by Nature, is a luminous tribute to the wonders of flora and fauna. Drawing on 245 years of savoir-faire, it celebrates nature’s treasures through 54 exceptional pieces that blend botanical poetry with the maison’s virtuoso craftsmanship.
The collection unfolds across three chapters, each honouring a different facet of the natural world. The first, Everlasting, is inspired by nature’s timeless cycles. This chapter showcases parures of wild rose adorned with fancy vivid yellow diamonds, oat and field stars delicately worked in yellow and white gold, and lush clover and fern pieces highlighted by exquisite Colombian emeralds. Next, Ephemeral, a collection that captures fleeting beauty, includes carnation creations in Chaumet’s signature blue sapphire hues, ruby-laced sword-lily jewels echoing entwined vines and sweetshrub sets combining pearls, spinels and sapphires in delicate pink gradients. Finally Reviving evokes nature’s renewal, featuring magnolia, iris, dahlia and water lily motifs, brought to life with diamonds, spinels and topaz, accompanied by dragonflies and blue tits in flight, and crowned by honeycomb bee brooches celebrating the essential role of pollinators.
From transformable tiaras to rings concealing secret solitaires, each piece is an ode to nature’s artistry, all crafted with Chaumet’s signature lightness and grace at 12 Vendôme. EP
Boucheron
This summer, Boucheron dives head first into nature’s fleeting beauty with Impermanence, its Carte Blanche 2025 high jewellery collection. Creative director Claire Choisne channels a distinctly wabi-sabi melancholy – think ikebana with diamonds – across six breathtaking compositions that transition from luminous fragility to shadowy depths.
From the gossamer tulips and eucalyptus in Composition N°6, whispering of life’s lightness, to the eerie darkness of N°1’s poppy cloaked in Vantablack®, Choisne crystallises moments that teeter on the edge of disappearing. Highlights? A rhinoceros beetle creeping across diamond-studded thistles, a caterpillar that actually arches and crawls and ethereal cyclamens transformed into a stained-glass dream of rose-cut diamonds.
With 28 transformable pieces – brooches, hair jewels, shoulder adornments – this is high jewellery with the soul of art. Over 18,000 hours in Boucheron’s workshops have birthed creations so delicate they might vanish if you blink. But that’s precisely the point: to celebrate nature’s transience, to grasp the instant before it slips away.
As Choisne puts it, “I wanted to capture the beauty of nature before it vanishes.” Mission exquisitely accomplished. Because in Boucheron’s hands, impermanence isn’t an end – it’s a dazzling beginning. EP
Fendi
Fendi has unveiled its latest high jewellery marvel, Eaux d’Artifice – a name that mischievously riffs on feu d’artifice, or fireworks, swapping fire for water in a glittering aquatic fantasy. True to form, Fendi’s Roman spirit finds fresh expression in these aqueous wonders, cascading with baroque drama and decadent whimsy.
Artistic director Delfina Delettrez Fendi has conjured a collection that dances between illusion and opulence, where sapphires, aquamarines, and diamonds swirl in frothy compositions reminiscent of Roman fountains under moonlight. Fluid motifs coil and curve like miniature rivers, whispering of the Villa d’Este’s grand water gardens and secret grottoes. Think liquid luxury – pieces that shimmer with movement, catching the light like ripples on the Tiber.
It’s all very Fendi: the savoir-faire, the irreverence, the Roman nonchalance that makes wearing couture gems feel almost delightfully mischievous. Delettrez Fendi infuses the collection with playful duality – a nod to water’s gentle caress and its sheer, ungovernable power. Each creation seems poised to spring to life, as though the diamonds might trickle right off your neck in crystalline rivulets.
In short, Eaux d’Artifice is a lavish ode to Rome’s eternal flirtation with extravagance – an aquatic spectacle that proves, once again, nobody does decadent delight quite like Fendi. EP
De Beers
De Beers offers a continuation of its exploration on the symbolism of trees this season. Following on from Essence of Nature: Chapter One, showcased during couture week back in January, Essence of Nature: Chapter Two unfurls with four new sets inspired by four distinctive trees native to the house’s diamond-producing countries.
The first in the offering is the Camelthorn Resilience set which pays tribute to the Camelthorn tree, a recognisable feature of Namibia’s desert landscape. The parure sourced inspiration from the tree’s bare and sculptural branches which is interpreted through polished and hand-textured gold, whilst also referencing the tree’s organic bark embellished with white and brown rough diamonds. The second set, the Baobab Magnitude, is an ode to Botswana’s Baobab tree which is honoured through bold, voluminous designs combining smooth jet stone with white and brightly-coloured diamonds. The Jacaranda Bloom, on the other hand, uses South Africa’s Jacaranda tree as its muse, resulting in romantic, botanically-inspired feminine designs to mimic the tree’s plentiful bloom. Finally, the Maple Colours collection pays homage to Canada’s famous national tree, the Maple. The design features geometric leaves crafted in white, yellow and rose gold with prominent orange-hued stones taking centre stage.
Chapter Two brings the total number of Essence of Nature pieces to 25, with additional pieces set to be released at a special event in China this autumn. The final number of pieces will be 42. Tommy Dowling
Pomellato
Pomellato introduces Collezione 1967, a new high jewellery opus that embodies the maison’s boldest manifesto yet, aptly named after a dappled horse – elegant, powerful, and unmistakably unique.
Through 75 exquisite creations, this collection journeys across three pivotal decades that shaped Pomellato’s identity: the revolutionary chain artistry of the 1970s (The Chain Revolution), the sculptural daring of the 1980s (Breaking the Rules of Design), and the chromatic exuberance of the 1990s (The Chromatic Vision).
A triumph of Italian craftsmanship, each jewel springs from the artistic heart of casa Pomellato’s ateliers in Milan, marrying centuries-old goldsmithing tradition with visionary design. Unexpected gemstone pairings, such as the Asimmetrico Tanzanite – a remarkable 55.96 carat irregular-cut tanzanite set in a fluid rose gold design – ignite dialogues of colour and light. Meanwhile, avant-garde settings like the Yellow Diamond Moon, showcasing a 7.05 carat yellow diamond encircled by white diamonds, break from convention, allowing each stone to narrate a broader tale of creative brilliance. Saywa Akakandelwa
Messika
Drawing inspiration from a profound encounter with nature, Messika presents its latest high jewellery collection Terres D’Instinct, which translates to Land of Instinct. The offering masterfully reflects founder Valérie Messika’s trip to Namibia in Africa where she was “captivated by the raw power of the landscapes…and majestic wildlife” according to a caption on her Instagram, all of which is presented across four dazzling necklaces: Mirage, Kalahara, Zebra Mnyama and Fauve.
Mirage contributes a homage to the dessert and the flow of dunes through a sculptural necklace. Kalahara, on the other hand, focuses on contrast and light, featuring a constellation of stones and two focal yellow radiant cut diamonds – one 34.92 carats and the other 3.61. Zebra Mnyama mimics the zebra with slices of onyx that sit in-between baguette cut diamonds seeming to reconstruct the stripes of those on the mammal. And finally Fauve, perhaps the mightiest of the four, imitating the deep cut of a lion’s claw with 2491 diamonds totalling a desirable 70.28 carats.
This collection also marks Messika’s first foray into the realm of coloured gemstones, in line with the brand’s 20th anniversary. Messika says, “I wanted to dare the boldness of colour. Exploring the infinitely evocative power of precious gemstones felt like a natural evolution. They extend the magic of diamonds and the reflect the deep emotions Africa awoke in me.” The precious and fine gems – sapphires, rubies, emeralds, spinels, garnets, onyx and more – contribute to this new output, with a 30-carat Zambian emerald taking the crowning spot. TD
Graff
Step aside, Twiggy. Graff is strutting out of Paris Haute Couture Week with 1963, a dazzling high jewellery suite that channels the decade’s rule-breaking glamour and kaleidoscopic rebellion. Think mini skirts, Beatlemania and a psychedelic swirl – except here it’s captured in over 129 carats of diamonds.
In a heady ode to the year the house was founded, 1963 serves up a mesmerising necklace, statement earrings and bracelet, ablaze with a whopping 7,790 oval, baguette and round diamonds. The concentric ovals ripple like optical illusions, each curve pulling you into a glittering vortex – meticulously aligned, naturally, by Graff’s impossibly skilled artisans.
But there’s more: hidden within each icy white gold setting is a secret sliver of round pavé emeralds – a cheeky flash of Graff green, like a sly wink to those in the know.
“This is one of the most intricate and technically challenging suites we’ve ever made,” says François Graff, the brand’s CEO. “It celebrates our origins, our evolution – and where we’re boldly headed next.”
So here’s to the Sixties: a riot of freedom, futurism and unapologetic sparkle, reincarnated for today by a house that makes some of the most fabulous jewels in the world. EP
Repossi
Repossi redefines volume with a daring evolution of its iconic haute joaillerie signature: Blast. This dynamic collection radiates vitality, composed of endless gold threads woven horizontally and vertically into striking sculptural forms. Anchored in the maison’s Place Vendôme heritage, the original Blast cuff is reimagined through 21 audacious new creations. Curvaceous, voluminous and unapologetically sensual, Blast defies traditional notions of high jewellery with its bold scale and magnetic allure.
More than a collection, Blast is a voyage into Repossi’s creative universe, merging the opulence of the maison’s legacy with primal influences drawn from primitive art and daring contemporary perspectives. The result is a collection that feels timeless yet unmistakably avant-garde.
In an accelerated luxury landscape, Blast stands as a tribute to patience and artistry. Each piece demands up to 250 hours of expert craftsmanship, featuring 15 radiant diamonds totaling 6.77 carats, alongside 720 pavé diamonds weighing 4.05 carats. Together, they embody Repossi’s mastery, affirming that true luxury is a deliberate, meticulous pursuit – crafted to perfection. SA
Top image: photography courtesy of Graff.
