Simply Abu Dhabi XXII

2 4 7 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I has often been resurrected by Dior in spirit, both by the man himself and by his disciples since, whether through the colours of pink and grey or the perfumes of rose and lily of the valley. Passed through a lens of nostalgia you get the Granville edit, a capsule collection of twelve one-off gems and nine vivid watches designed to capture a precious time in the founder’s life. She executes the collection boldly, clashing vibrant colours with childlike abandon “as if stickers were put together spontaneously, without any preconceived constraints,” she says. Green beryl, morganite, aquamarine, tanzanite, rubellite, peridot and chrysoberyl are assembled into exotic combinations to form lust-worthy earrings and rings. “Colour plays a starring role,” Castellane continues. “The way in which they’re assembled creates a sense of equilibrium that means no one colour dominates another. So that each one has an equal chance to shine. They come to life.” Yellow gold earrings are set with mismatched, colourful gemstones fringed at the fixing with leaf-like green beryls and finished at the bottom with deep pink rose tourmalines. In one ring, a large blood-coloured rubellite is surrounded by rays of green, yellow, blue and orange stones, while in another bracelet fashioned from rose gold, a crown-like setting of rose tourmalines sits at the centre of a riot of colourful gems (diamonds, purple spinels, yellow beryls, sapphires, green tourmalines and azure aquamarines) in a host of different cuts – marquise, pears, ovals, rounds and princess cuts all jostling for space. Designed for the young at heart, these will appeal to any woman’s inner child, colouring the rainbow in kaleidoscopic precious stones. Asymmetry is a theme with no one piece mirroring itself along any plane. It’s as if Castellane has flung the paint palette around the studio, and to glorious effect. It’s a show-stopper born out of French Normandy. Goodbye convention, hello joie de vivre.