House of Louis Vuitton jewelry boutique opens on the Place Vendome in Paris. Albert Galeev found that such ornaments Haute Joaillerie XXI century.
Champs-Elysées Necklace in white gold with diamonds and spinel; Fontaine ring of white and blackened gold with onyx, sapphires and diamonds, all Louis Vuitton Haute Joaillerie. Swimwear, Gucci.
At the Place Vendome in Paris reserved hysterically screaming saws, jackhammers rattle. At the corner of the house twenty-three, between the shops Cartier and Bvlgari, finishes building the world's first boutique jewelry Louis Vuitton. Place Vendôme jewelers for a syndicate of Parisian haute couture designers. To get here means to obtain a higher recognition of colleagues and the right to be named league player. Only seven houses jewelery shops have the address on the Place Vendôme. From fashion, except for Louis Vuitton, jewelry is sold only Chanel. It is true that Gabrielle Chanel started creating jewelry in 1932. History of Louis Vuitton jewelry line just something a dozen-odd years.
With its art director Lorenz Baumer we stand at the entrance to the boutique and see how the artist paints booth that covers the construction site from prying eyes - gold tassel draws a map of Paris. "Come to my office, I'll show you a map!" - Tells me sorokasemiletny Lorenz. On tour for Vogue Baumer came out of the pool. And before that arose at six in the morning and three children razvez of Kindergartens. Trim, tanned, dressed as a Parisian dandy: in a personal tailor sewed a black "deuce" of fitted shirts and trousers, shoes, Berluti. On hand - watches Breguet. «Louis Vuitton I also wear, waterproof - for surfing" - smiles Lorenz.
In the demo room in the Rue Pont Neuf overlooking the domes and spiers of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where you would normally take VIP clients, Lorenz puts me a necklace Vendôme - Lace in white gold with pave of white and yellow diamonds. "That's it! See? This is a map of Paris. Fine, I can tell you every street name. The challenge for me in terms of design was to make a beautiful card, because that beautiful roads in the grid! But I'm not in the Louis Vuitton to do things that are already doing to me. Continuing to expand boundaries of the possible - that's my motto. "
This is best illustrated by creed is not even gold topografika, and large diamonds, which are marked on the necklace area, including Vendome. They have a special cut - not fifty eight faces, as in a standard round brilliant cut diamond, and the sixty-five on the diamonds in the shape of a flower with round petals and seventy-seven in pointed, star-shaped. "It took us two years to calculate the correct angle, the number of faces. But look how shiny stone. It gives more light than a diamond-cut like "pear" or "emerald."
My first jewelry house Louis Vuitton introduced in 2000. Then it was a pure experiment entrusted designer Marc Jacobs Camille Miseli create jewelry collection of jewelry with U.S. rapper Pharrell Williams. Those gold rings with cupids and the French royal lily of diamonds were just precious. In English are referred to as jewelry Fine Jewelry, to distinguish from Costume Jewelry, costume jewelry. And here is the exclusive jewelry termed High Jewelry, if the French - Haute Joaillerie - similar to Haute Couture. The line of Louis Vuitton Haute Joaillerie just started Lorenz Baumer in 2008.
Why in the Louis Vuitton engaged in the jewelry art? Because the niche is empty, and they had to say. "Jewellery Houses like Van Cleef & Arpels and Harry Winston did the classic thing - says Baumer. - A market for creative products was empty. When we come to it, conservatives are screaming: "They are crazy, it did not work! Brands that are in the hundreds of years, who knows what's what, the best of these upstarts. " And people want a more fashion jewelry - there was a demand. " Baumer was right: designed specifically for opening a boutique collection of Escale à Paris, which includes necklaces Vendôme, at the time of the press room had already been sold for eighty-five percent of Vendome, and to reach the shelves is unlikely. Collier Vendôme, the most expensive jewelry in the collection, it took a half a million euros, a ring of Champs-Elysées, the most affordable - for fifty thousand.
Unlike Chanel or Dior (the latter began to produce jewelry in 1998, after half a century after its founding) from Louis Vuitton, and there was no line of Haute Couture, so that the "high" jewelry as if it were replaced. Haute couture and high jewelery and truth alike. They were born at the same time, when with the advent of ready-to-wear jewelry, and commercialization of culture began to disappear in the studio sewing and creating custom jewelry. And live by the same laws: manual labor, investment in time, production methods and materials. Since last year, review new products Haute Joaillerie jewelry included in the program of High Fashion Week in Paris.
But Haute Joaillerie - it is not just a special design or technological tightrope walking. First of all, it is a philosophy, an idea that is behind each ornament. "For this I admire Rene Lalique - says Baumer. - He began to use simple materials such as glass, ivory, complemented by several diamonds - and sold to the highest price. The idea ukrasheniya he placed above that of which it done. This is art, when not selling canvas and paints, and his thought and feeling. But the pure art of Haute Joaillerie jewelry will still be able to: your ears should not fall off the end of the evening because of the earrings, so similar to the parrots, which are made in full size. "
In the current collection of Escale à Paris, «stop in Paris," in addition to a necklace card Vendôme are dozens of ornaments with the names of other famous Parisian streets. The entire collection created their own jewelers Louis Vuitton, which is also the first time. For this brand acquired an antique shop with all the staff. Now, cutters, engravers, polishers, zakrepschiki will work on a new store - in the best traditions of the Place Vendome. "The music you play, always so good, how good is the worst musician in your band" - with a smile Baumer comments.
As well, more importantly, to carry all this beauty? Oscar still does not track the ball in honor of the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty in the Winter, and the Pepsi generation of stars is not Elizabeth Taylor. "Stop! - Lorenz laughs. - It's measurements of the last century: the "high" jewelry, rubies, emeralds for the evening, pearls for the day and stuff like that. Nowadays, you can arrange a romantic dinner at home with her lover, and perhaps the only thing that you will be wearing - this necklace Vendôme. A necklace Champs-Elysées in general, in my opinion, looks best with a plain white shirt and jeans if you wear it under my shirt and unbutton so that it gently peeped. We must not go on dogma but on feeling. This is one of the reasons that most of our jewelry can be transformed. Today wanted to wear a long necklace - please briefly tomorrow - no problem. From jewelry to play and to treat them the same way - easily. Including jewelery. Here I want to, for example, to make a bracelet. I can, but then I thought: "Maybe to make jewelry watch?" Because then combined business with pleasure. Utility is very important.
