Chopard artistic director and co-president Caroline Sheufele gets busier every year. Back in 2007, she pledged to match the number of pieces in her annual Red Carpet high jewelry collection to the edition number of the Cannes International Film Festival – of which Chopard has been the Official
Sponsor since 1998. This year is the 77th edition, and true to her word, Chopard is introducing 77 new one-of-a-kind designs. The pieces will be worn by stars on the red carpet throughout the festival, which runs until May 25.
The Red Carpet collection usually follows a theme, with past inspirations including architecture, painting, art, literature, and cinema. This year’s theme is Contes de Fées, or Fairy Tales. The designs combine a whimsical blend of realism and fantasy that involves fairies going about their magical business in natural settings. Scheufele works her own magic, including setting the pieces with rare, often difficult-to-source gems, sometimes in lavish quantities and bold color combinations. In a twist from the usual gold-focused designs, many of this year’s pieces are made using titanium, which has the advantage of being extremely light: She tends to design on a large scale, and titanium allows her to create pieces that would be impossible to make (and wear) in gold because of their size and weight. Another advantage of titanium is that it can be tinted in various colors by anodization, so it can take on on the color of the stones it surrounds or simply stand alone as a color element. The gold used in the collection is certified Fairmined. Here is a sneak peek of 8 of the quirkiest pieces from this year’s Red Carpet collection.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Oak Necklace
Oak-themed necklace with 18-karat gold and titanium leaves set with tsavorites, and tinted titanium acorns. The necklace is also set with briolette-cut yellow sapphires and emeralds.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Lily of the Valley Brooch
Lily of the valley brooch in titanium and 18-karat gold, set with 3.90 carats of tsavorites and 2.24 carats of diamonds. The diamond bell-shaped flowers are given tiny yellow gold pistils.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Fairy Tiara
Tiara in 18-karat white gold, set with 17.06 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds and 15.16 carats of pear-shaped diamonds, with a detachable fairy made with mother-of-pearl wings that also serves as a brooch.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Fairy Earrings
Oak leaf and acorn motif earrings, with a fairy perched on each acorn, in titanium with emeralds, tsavorites and cognac diamonds.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Butterfly Earrings
Butterfly motif earrings in 18-karat white gold set with set with two pear-shaped aquamarines totaling 27.57 carats and a gradient of blue, pastel and pink sapphires, as well as topaz aquamarine emerald, and brilliant-cut diamonds.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Mushroom Ring
Mushroom-shaped ring in 18-karat rose gold, set with brilliant-cut diamonds in shades of white, orange-brown, and cognac, totaling 9.08 carats.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Frog Ring
An 18-karat gold ring centered with a 17.7-carat, round-cut rubellite, framed by two titanium frogs set with two pear-shaped emeralds. It is also set with white and yellow diamonds.
Chopard Red Carpet Collection Flower Sautoir
Sautoir necklace in 18-karat gold and titanium with colored sapphires, rubies, colored diamonds, tsavorites, pearls and rock crystal, with rubellite, and amethyst beads.
