High Jewelry 2023: Dior, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci

In homage to the maison’s heritage, Dior’s “The Dearest” collection introduced 77 pieces of jewelry where femininity, modernity, power, fragility, and timelessness collide. Taking cues from intricately crocheted lace with floral motifs, we saw the suite of rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, featuring dazzling colored stones and highly detailed metalwork set with tiny sparkling diamonds. Designs that epitomized the craftsmanship and savoir-faire of the house included a golden choker that looked like it could have been made of lace, where more than 100 tiny diamonds encircled the wearer’s neck, highlighting a central fuchsia gem and a pair of dangling earrings where six different colored gemstones formed delicate groupings of flowers.

Cartier shared four splendid necklaces in its collection “Beautés du Monde,” which marveled at the earth’s magnificence—particularly living creatures like birds and fish. Focused on hues of red, green, and blue, the pieces employed stones like Zambian emeralds, mesmerizing opals, wine-colored spinels, onyx, and, of course, diamonds in the making of the treasures. Reminding us of the colors of a peacock was the platinum-set Ocelle necklace, which featured two central opals (over 16 carats each) and a glistening round emerald measuring 21.15 carats, which were the center of focus on top of smaller layers of stones that looked like feathers.

We saw a series of new one-of-a-kind pieces by Gucci added to its ongoing High Jewelry collection “Hortus Deliciarum” (or “Garden of Delights”). Focused on the memorable moments one experiences when traveling, the debuts took the form of multi-finger rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, evoking imagery of gorgeous flora and fauna. Joining reimaginings of house staples like the Lion Head and Tiger head motifs, we saw vivid gems such as tourmaline, tanzanite, aquamarine, and sapphires set into pieces like an ornate ring of yellow gold and diamonds set with a stunning 38.8-carat green tourmaline, which was fastened into place with prongs that looked like tiny golden leaves.

The 30 new High Jewelry creations introduced to Louis Vuitton’s “Spirit” collection artfully translated the maison’s visual signatures to the language of fine metals and precious gems, taking on the form of four stylistic suites—Destiny, Liberty, Fantasy, and Radiance. Our favorites, the Destiny pieces saw two necklaces (a thick choker and a large statement collar) set with diamonds cut in the shape of the Monogram flower, accompanied by an assortment of rubies. Also not to be missed was the Liberty necklace that featured a pendant fashioned after the house’s iconic trunk, which is crusted in its entirety with diamonds, and opens to reveal a magnificent blue stone.