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| Bal de Mai necklace crafted in white and yellow gold and featuring petals of pink opals embellished with white diamonds, fancy brown diamonds, fancy pink diamonds, fancy lilac diamonds, fancy mauve diamonds, and emeralds; from the Le Bal des Roses high-jewelry collection, Dior Fine Jewelry (price on request). For inquiries, Via Bellagio, 702-731-1334 | |
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Rose Dior Bagatelle ring in white gold and diamonds, Dior Fine Jewelry ($14,800). Via Bellagio, 702-731-1334 |
Amid the splendiferous gardens of Paris’s Musée Rodin, guests emerge from one oversize tent, having just viewed Bill Gaytten’s mélange of architecture-meets-fantasy in his Fall/Winter 2011 haute-couture collection for Dior, as waiters in white jackets proffer Champagne while escorting us to another, smaller tent at the opposite end of the expansive grounds. There, in a darkened, hushed space surrounded by centuries-old rose bushes, the true fantasy commences: Le Bal des Roses, the latest high-jewelry collection from the House of Dior, and designer Victoire de Castellane’s captivating ode not only to the favorite flower of the man who founded the legendary label, but also to the elegance of bygone days.
Limited to just 12 one-of-a-kind pieces, Le Bal des Roses takes its name from the series of grand balls that took place in Paris and its environs from the 1940s and ’50s, with each piece dubbed for a different event. “Christian Dior attended many of these balls himself and designed countless fabulous gowns for many of the guests,” says de Castellane, who has served as creative director of Dior Fine Jewelry since 1998. “The collection ultimately represents different women, symbolized by roses, who have dressed themselves in haute couture.”
And not unlike the art and craft of handmade clothes, these pieces accomplish precisely what is intended of a high-jewelry collection: Through dazzlingly lifelike blooms crafted of pink or yellow opals, white and fancy-colored diamonds, and Colombian emeralds large enough to stand on their own as sculpted rose leaves, Le Bal des Roses showcases the pinnacle of a jewelry artisan’s abilities through wearable works of art that also boast the DNA of the house.
The Bal de Mai necklace, for example, required 3,200 hours of workmanship and was the most challenging for de Castellane, she says, in terms of time, design, and the number of stones. “I associated stones usually not used in haute joaillerie,” she says, “such as chrysoprases and gray diamonds, white quartz, ruby or pink opals, and pink diamonds to reveal the sparkle of the precious stones, much like the embroidery on a fabric.”
De Castellane calls Le Bal des Roses “the supreme collection” of an ongoing rose theme in Dior Fine Jewelry; indeed, Rose Dior Bagatelle, a seven-piece collection that arrives in stores this month (locally at Dior’s Via Bellagio location), similarly spotlights Monsieur Dior’s passion for the flower, although in a decidedly more attainable fashion than the sky’s-the-limit pricing and aesthetic of haute joaillerie. And yet an easy association can be made between the two, especially as they share commonalities of technique. Given Dior’s penchant for this particular bloom, this garden party is certain to continue, and we’re always eager to attend.
