Soie Dior (Dior Silk in French): the most couture of fabrics, the silk of a taffeta, a pongé, organza or satin; the sumptuous colours of the silk of evening gowns. Sois Dior (Be Dior in French): be sensual and fanciful. In her latest collection of high jewellery, Victoire de Castellane delights in word play as much as the stones and symbols themselves. Here, the silk comes in the form of a ribbon, a tie that binds couture with the world of jewellery. She delights in curling her ribbons this way and that, into pleats, scrolls and twists… then, all of a sudden, she sets it. Silk settles, like a dress on a mannequin, like a precious moment frozen in time. At that moment, a jewel is born: a ribbon of gold amid a construction in gemstones. “When you play with a ribbon, it’s instinctive, ephemeral, and I wanted to keep that notion of freedom,”explains de Castellane.
Each piece in the collection spontaneously captures that fraction of a second between one motion and the next. The one when a pleat captures a pink sapphire between two waves in gold pavé. The instant when a ribbon, which appears to have been untied just a moment earlier, holds a pear-cut diamond suspended between two undulating tails. Or the next second, when a gesture has already altered the ribbon’s pleats and the shape of a necklace.
