Skin has been trending as a red carpet look for some time now, from Halle Berry’s sheer stripes at the Met Gala this month to Bianca Censori’s see-through mini at the Grammy Awards in February.
Recent jewelry collections have played with the style, too, featuring pieces that achieve a barely there effect on some wearers through the use of soft-tone metals and skin-matching stones. Other designs have open structures that would play peekaboo with any skin color.
Cartier, for example, is scheduled to unveil the Hyala necklace, a highlight of its new En Équilibre high jewelry collection, in Stockholm next week.
“Everything starts with the stones,” said Pierre Rainero, the house’s image, style and heritage director. “We start drawing once certain stones come together. They guide our creative direction. The idea of a ‘second skin’ follows from a pursuit of softness, in color, in form and in the way the piece moves with the body.”
At the center of Hyala is a 5.71-carat oval-cut diamond in what Cartier has called a brownish yellowish orange, flanked by two pink-brown diamonds totaling 6.03 carats; a gradation of yellow, brown and pink diamonds; and pink and brown sapphires, some in rounded cabochon cuts. “We are in the realm of softness, so naturally we avoid strong contrasts to achieve a camaïeu,” Mr. Rainero said, using a French word for a progression of similar tones.
→ Continue reading at The New York Times
