Simply Abu Dhabi XXIX

DIOR V ersailles, act III. After Versailles by Night in 2016 and Versailles gardens, Victoire de Castellane, Dior’s jewellery creative director, invites us to discover an unseen Versailles: Versailles pieces secrètes (Versailles secret places). Secret passages, hidden boudoirs, rooms and corridors, Versailles secret places brings us into the palace’s “behind the scenes”, the world in which France’s secrets were kept alive. The entire collection is characterised by its mechanical jewels that open up or hide small secrets. “I wanted to use chiaroscuro stones in shades of faded rose, reds on verging on purple, iridescent moonstones and more intense sky blues,” explained Castellane, adding, “the colours themselves seem a little mysterious, like antique silks.” Dior uses unusual central stones and playful and varied opening systems that hide symbols and pay tribute to jewellery as love tokens and secret charms. Cocktail rings, necklaces and bracelets are part of this collection in which the most precious piece is the “Vanité Emeraude” necklace in yellow and white gold, diamonds, an astonishing emerald and colour-change garnets. Rose gold, yellow gold, rubellite and diamonds are used for the Cachette cocktail ring and rose gold, diamonds and green beryl adorn the Volupte ring. What emerges fromVictoire de Castellane’s work is that she is able to encapsulate the spirit of the theme she approaches in her jewellery. Admiring Dior’s latest haute joallerie collection transports the imagination to Versailles secret world, in which beauty, mysteries and love are mounted on gold and engraved or made of opals, spinels, diamonds, emeralds and rubellite. 1 9 4 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I