The Cannes Film Festival is synonymous with highly-acclaimed arthouse movies, the biggest names in show business — and Chopard, the official red carpet jeweller for the festival since 1998. To mark its partnership and Cannes’ 75 years honouring the best of cinema, co-president and artistic director of Chopard, Caroline Scheufele, created 75 one-of-a-kind pieces for the Haute Joaillerie 2022 Red Carpet Collection, released earlier this year.
Over the past 25 years, the Maison has carved its role as a key player in the festival, expressing its engagement through numerous activities. "In 25 years, I have been privileged to witness special moments in the world of cinema,” says Scheufele.
“For all actors, directors and other professionals in the film industry, the Cannes Film Festival serves as both a springboard and a career highlight. It is a time of great emotion, an enchanted moment to immerse oneself in a wide variety of works: for 11 days, we are gathered in the enchanting setting of the Bay of Cannes, and yet we take pleasure in being confined inside a cinema to discover films inspired by love and passion, as well as by drama, struggles and social issues.”
Among the Chopard Haute Joaillerie collections, Red Carpet is the one that embodies the ultimate dazzlement, nourished by Scheufele's curious and lively view of the world. For her 75-piece collection, she drew inspiration from her love of movies under the theme “Chopard Loves Cinema”.
Dreamed up as an epic saga inspired by the grand adventure of cinema from its early black and white charms to its dizzying contemporary colours, Chopard Loves Cinema is whimsical, bedazzling, and completely green (as with the rest of the brand’s jewellery collections), using fair-mined ethical gold and sustainably source gems.
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At the film festival in May this year, Chopard ambassador Julia Roberts walked down La Croisette showcasing key pieces from the Red Carpet collection, which included an exquisite 100-carat yellow diamond necklace, as well as a rose brooch paved with 1,800 diamonds, inspired by Charlie Chaplin's City of Lights.
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As a tribute to her favourite childhood fairytales, Scheufele created a Cinderella-inspired pumpkin ring with spessartite garnets and tsavorites which opens to reveal a detachable diamond slipper. A dog lover and fan of 101 Dalmatians, she also made a bracelet featuring dogs sporting a coat of black and white diamonds – a feat that required no less than 470 hours of work by the Maison's jewellers. To pay homage to one of her favourite classic movies, Death in Venice, she created an outstanding ring whose crown is shaped after Venetian bridges and gondola, and topped with a large 57-carat aquamarine stone.
In town to host a red carpet-themed dinner for VIP guests, Scheufele sits down with Options to talk about her Red Carpet collection.
Why is showcasing your jewellery on the red carpet so important to you?
You know you can have the best showroom and window display with state-of-the-art lighting, but the minute a piece of jewellery is worn on a woman, it just comes alive because it's moving. That is why the best way to showcase the brilliance and colour of gems is really on the red carpet because of all the lights from cameras. The movement of the necklace on a person, the light when it hits at every angle — the piece just sparkles very differently. That’s where jewellery belongs — on a person.
Which celebrity truly personifies red carpet glamour?
I think right now we have the best — Julia Roberts and her dazzling smile. But over the past 25 years at Cannes, I’ve met so many beautiful talented actresses like Marion Cotillard, Cate Blanchett, and Isabelle Huppert — a beautiful fashion icon and great actress. It’s difficult to name just one.
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Do you have a favourite movie?
Too many! But the most recent movie I’ve watched was Ticket to Paradise, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts. I can only advise you to go see it because it's very uplifting and beautifully filmed. Of course, the actors are great and look like they're having a lot of fun in the movie. Right at the beginning you'll see a lot of Chopard like the “Happy Hearts” collection.
In your opinion, how has red carpet style evolved over the years?
We’ve definitely come a long way. I think now the jewellery scene is much more democratic and people are more daring. It’s so common to see male actors wearing jewellery, rings, brooches, studs etc. People are also wearing more colour and mixing shades of gold, rather than sticking to classic all-white gold. And they also prefer not to wear the full set – an approach I’ve always had. You can wear a ring from one collection and a necklace from another – it doesn't need to be exactly the same, and you can layer too. Wearing jewellery should be fun.
What’s your gem of the moment?
Right now, yellow diamonds are in big demand. I like all the different shades of yellow especially when you combine them in a single piece of jewellery. It creates a very beautiful effect when you mix shades from the same family.
Was the jewellery industry affected by the pandemic?
There were some markets that were completely shut, but we never stopped working. Weddings, birthdays and anniversaries still happened and people felt even more need to gift themselves with jewellery. Covid-19 made it difficult to work but we navigated very well, and now that it's sort of behind us, people just want to go out and do everything and go everywhere. Hotels are full, flights are full, restaurants are full, venues are full. People are living once more, and that means they want to dress up and make themselves look beautiful, and maybe spoil themselves with a nice watch or piece of jewellery.
What are your views on sustainability?
We were the first company to seriously look into the field and create processes to produce more ethically. And when we started, everybody was sort of “Oh, let them just do it”. We were not really taken seriously and nobody really talked about it. Consumers didn't know what we were doing, because jewellery is a very sort of discreet world. Now, people are starting to have more conversations about sustainability in jewellery, as much as fashion. And I'm very happy and encouraged that all our friends are following suit, because I don't want to be the only company doing it. This is something that everybody should be doing. Now when I look at the pieces, I feel I have even more respect for them than before. Because I know how much care went in it, and that it's from a completely transparent supply chain. I know that we didn't spoil the planet.
What are your hopes and dreams for the brand?
Well, I hope that we will one day be able to say that every single stone that we touch, or that the industry uses, is ethically-mined and produced. I hope that for Chopard, we stay as creative as we have been, always respecting quality and family traditions. I also hope and pray that the world finds peace everywhere.
What are you working on next?
We have a lot of boutique openings or changing of boutique locations. In New York, we are moving from Madison Ave to Fifth Ave. We are opening a flagship in Hong Kong. In Milan we are moving to Monte Napoleone, and we opened a big store in Dusseldorf. As we speak, I'm working on 76 pieces for Red Carpet 2023 to mark Cannes’ 76th year.
