Van Cleef & Arpels

In keeping with the House’s love of fairies and all things whimsical, this year Van Cleef & Arpels take us on a fantasy journey, a territory the brand knows all too well. “Peau d'Âne is a very dream-like collection inspired by a famous fairy tale by Charles Perrault, a famous French storyteller of the 17th century,” explained Alban Belloir, Managing Director Middle East and India. Peau d'Âne (Donkey Skin) tells the tale of a princess who flees her home for the forest when a strange madness grips her father the king following the death of her mother. In the forest she encounters and marries her prince. The fairy tale was later adapted into a screenplay and made into a movie in 1970 by Jacques Demy starring Catherine Deneuve as the princess. The princess’s childhood at the castle, her flight into the forest and her marriage to the prince form the heart of the magical collection. “The whole collection is actually inspired by different scenes of the tale, but also the movie which presents a colorful interpretation of the fairy tale,” said Belloir. In breaking from the norm at Van Cleef & Arpels, the collection features a masculine figure, that of the prince. “This is quite rare and unique at Van Cleef & Arpels,” explained Belloir. “We love to address women and we have a lot of feminine figures, but this time we came up with a masculine figure of the prince and this piece is a magnificent brooch with an emerald in the center symbolizing the ring which was a gift to the princess.”

Another standout piece of the collection is the Enchanted Mirror necklace. “This amazing necklace is a transformable piece with an incredible sapphire of almost 25 carats in the center. The sapphire is very rare; the cut is octagonal which is quite uncommon and is a very intense, vivid shade of blue,” explained Belloir. “The sapphire and mirror effect piece can actually be removed and worn as a clip. The rest of the necklace is also magnificent with 3500 emerald beads. This is one of the masterpieces we are featuring this year.”