The Brilliance of Victoire de Castellane

  

The words that come to mind when I think of Victoire de Castellane are nothing but complimentary: brilliant, sophisticated creative and avant-garde. Victoire de Castellane is a French jewelry designer whose career success is defined in her named, victorious. She started working alongside Karl Lagerfield in Chanel overseeing the costume jewelry design (1984-1998), but then moved to her still current job as the creative director of the Dior’s fine jewelry line in 1998 when Dior’s CEO Arnault anounced the innaguration of Dior Joaillerie. If that was still not enough, Castellane also had two exhibitions of her work at some of the most prestigious art galleries, Gagosian Gallery, in NY, London and Paris. 

Castellane’s success is definitely well deserved, her love for jewelry is clearly transmitted in her work in both her own Victoire de Castellane brand and Dior Joaillerie. Her jewelry is big, it makes you look twice but it is also art and beauty in one. The detail in every piece is intricate and carefully designated. One of my favorite collections was the 2009 collection of “Kings and Queens” with skulls of different colored gem stones and designs.

  

What is different about Dior Joaillerie to other jewelers in the business is the importance they give to the story behind the design, the designer and the creation. They see it as a master piece, a work of art. I’ve been to so many jewelry web sites in my life and what I normally see is the jewelry piece/pieces, the price and maybe, if I’m lucky, the name of the piece, and a tiny description of what it is or the materials used. Thus making my jewelry experience a very materialistic and inspiration-less one. Where as in Dior it is the opposite, the experience and the story behind their jewelry is everything, they have pictures they have videos they have full texts. They give Castellane’s masterpieces the acknowledgment that they deserve.

In this link you see why Dior and Castellane’s jewelry is so special. This is the story behind the famous Rose Dior Bagatelle:
http://www.dior.com/couture/en_int/the-house-of-dior/the-crafts/fine-jewellery

  

This is another very interesting article that WSJ wrote about her, definitely worth a read if you like her style:
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303914304579194084056465124

Images via: Vogue, WSJ and unknown