Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet. Photo: Getty
Signora, e una favola. “Madame, it’s but a story…” said the young woman, her voice a gentle, apologetic tone. I can still recall the look of sadness on the face of the woman opposite her, who, standing in the “house of Juliet Capulet” in Verona, Italy, had asked if its great hall was where the Capulet ball had been held, hundreds of years ago. Alas, the great bard William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, the tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers from feuding families written circa 1597, has stood the test of time as one of the greatest love stories that possibly never existed. And yet, the tale of fated romance still thrives to this day, in contemporary culture and high jewelry alike.
Van Cleef & Arpels, whose own foundations stem from the marriage between Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef, launched the Romeo and Juliet collection during couture fashion week in Paris. “ e choice of Romeo and Juliet was a natural one for several reasons,” starts Nicolas Bos, president, and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels. “Literature is one of the maison’s major sources of inspiration,” he says. In 2003, Van Cleef & Arpels paid tribute to Shakespeare with the A Midsummer Night’s Dream collection. e timing also coincides with the contemporary adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by Benjamin Millepied, choreographer and founder of the LA Dance Project collective. “When Benjamin – whose work we have supported for the past several years – told us that he was working on a contemporary adaptation, it struck me as a remarkable creative opportunity. Shakespeare’s masterpiece acts as the starting point for a new thematic collection, but also for a dialogue between disciplines involving high jewelry, dance, music, and the visual arts.” e vivid drawings of Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti, commissioned by the high jeweler, add a further layer to this collection.
Any one of the more than 100 pieces could be pictured on the neck or dainty wrist of Claire Danes, who played Juliet opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film Romeo + Juliet.
As VIP clients and editors set their eyes on the dazzling stones – sapphires and diamonds for the transformable Verona necklace, calibrated rubies for the kiss at the balcony earrings, and emeralds set delicately within the ora ring – they can almost hear the heart-wrenching music of Nino Rota from the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli film dedicated to the Renaissance couple. Here, in a Verona reimagined with stones, gardens are planted with emeralds and the green gems merge with tsavorites to tumble out of a balcony of diamonds. Van Cleef & Arpels offers a bravado collection where the interplay of different stone cuts, setting techniques, and color gradations offer a masterful play on volume. The dominant color palette: red and blue denoting the two warring families; mauve the color of the united love of the young, fated heroes; while green, quite simply and essentially, symbolizes hope.
The Van Cleef & Arpels Romeo and Juliet collection is available in Dubai at the Van Cleef & Arpels Les Salon Dubai Opera from January 15 until February 15.
Originally published in the January 2020 issue of Vogue Arabia
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