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Paris Fashion Week Shines in Diamonds Too
Take a look at the diamonds that stole the show at Paris Fashion Week.
AKANO Mkpulu diamond and emerald necklace. (Photo by Katerina Perez)
It’s mistaken to think that Paris Fashion Week’s international event showcasing luxury and designer clothes is all about the runways. While indeed they command a lot of attention, there are presentations, market showrooms, and events that draw the industry for inspiration and commerce. (The various weeks bring an estimated 1.2 billion euros annually in both wholesale sales and ancillary goods and services.) The Haute Couture, held biannually, also hosts Haute Joaillerie introductions in Place Vendôme and beyond.
Yet despite the Pret-a-Porter nature of the March shows, natural diamonds found a place in the action of it all. Ready-to-Wear collections decked their front row out in fine jewelry wares on Margot Robbie, Jennie and Kylie Minogue at Chanel, and at Louis Vuitton. Guests Ana de Armas, Jennifer Connelly, Chloe Grace Moretz, Hoyeon (Jung), and Alicia Vikander, among others, wore LV Fine Jewelry. Only Natural Diamonds highlights standout gems that shone during PFW, demonstrating that in the City of Lights, these precious stones shine brightest.
Meet the Expert
- Roxanne Robinson is an award-winning journalist with over 25 years of experience between New York and Paris.
- She covers the luxury and fashion industries, spending 18 years as WWD’s Accessories and Jewelry Director.
- She is the New York Contributing Editor for Fashion Network, and regularly contributes to the New York Times, the CFDA, Forbes, and more.
Paris Fashion Week: Akano
Africa is known for its diamond mines in countries such as Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia. While stones may be cut and polished there, high jewelry brands that use them are usually located in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and Asia. Akano, founded and creative directed by Akunna Nwala-Akano, is about to change that.
Making her formal European debut during Paris Fashion Week in partnership with Vogue 100, Akano hosted a cocktail reception at The Peninsula Paris, where the Nigerian jewelry house introduced its newest collection, Omenala—meaning heritage in Igbo. Drawing on symbolism personal to the creator, the pieces reference Igbo cosmology, West African motifs, and family memories, resulting in bold sculptural designs that combine abstraction and representation.
For instance, the Akupe 4 suite, featuring pear-cut diamonds and rare Mehenge spinels, pays homage to fan weavers in remote Nigerian villages. The Idenmili, made of diamonds, rubies, rubellites, and Japanese Akoya pearls, recalls Akunna’s mother; it sits like a breastplate with cascading diamond tendrils suspended from a sculpted diamond collar.
One standout piece is the necklace from the Mkpulu Suite. It features a sweeping diamond torque collar that symbolizes the transformative flow of life. “You try to make it look as elegant as possible, but no one sees what you go through to get there,” Akano explained to Only Natural Diamonds in an interview. The swirling motif ends among a cluster of smooth emerald cabochons, representing abundance, alongside round brilliant diamonds in various sizes arranged to evoke the shape of Africa.
Paris Fashion Week: Marie Mas
Designer Marie Cabirou founded her brand Marie Mas in 2017 with a simple idea: jewelry should move. She worked with Raf Simons at Dior, creating costume jewelry, before turning to fine jewelry to make pieces that would last. Fine jewelry is often passed down from generation to generation.
Unique to her designs—which have been sported by Carrie Coon and Joey King, among others—is flow and motion. A patented ring design features a row of stones that ‘flip’ to reveal another set on the backside. Her designs shift with various components, such as the U-shaped ring stacks, allowing wearers to choose a configuration.
A wide range of unpierced ear cuffs gives the illusion of diamonds floating in and around every crevice. Her designs are diamond-centric, but she includes colored stones such as emeralds, sapphires, and rubies to complement them. In her latest collection shown during PFW, Cabirou added pearls, saying, “I wanted to complete the range of classic gemstones.”
Paris Fashion Week: Tabayer
Tabayer’s Paris Fashion Week jewelry presentation might take the prize for chicest in both product and setting. It was held at Australian fashion designer Kym Ellery’s home, Maison Rocher—her partner is Jeremy Rocher —and the modernized apartment is often the scene of design and art events, overlooking the Square du Temple.
On a sunny Saturday, windows open to reveal lush green planters and the park beyond, Tabayer founder Nigora Tokhtabayeva’s designs basking in the sunlight. It highlighted new limited editions of the Oera collection Coli bracelet in colors such as one featuring brown diamonds, red jasper, Madera citrine, and sapphire—an excellent pairing to a burnt orange Chanel suit by Mathieu Blazy shown at PFW—and the wheat sheaf talisman signifying harmony and grace and covered in diamond pavé.
Paris Fashion Week: Bibi van der Velden
Once again during PFW, Bibi van der Velden took over a suite at the Chateau Voltaire and transformed it into a wonderland fit for the brand’s magical creations. The jeweler has never been known to shy away from a charming creature. Her latest collection, “Enchanted Forest,” was inspired by Bibi’s childhood in England and explores the world of woodland flora and fauna such as frogs, tadpoles, mushrooms, and trees, but made from diamonds, malachite, tiger’s eye, rock crystal, abalone, and 18K gold.
One impressive cuff is a ‘tree of life’ diamond design resting under a flawless piece of rock crystal, which was a production feat. The collection will unveil a high jewelry necklace marking a new milestone for the brand. Also on display was the Beyoncé-endorsed diamond alligator collection, which promises new styles later this year.
Paris Fashion Week: Repossi
Repossi celebrates its 40th anniversary in the heart of high jewelry; its flagship store at 6 Place Vendôme, opened in 1986 and renovated in 2016 under the guidance of Gaia Repossi with Rem Koolhaas and his architectural firm OMA, is the perfect setting to amplify the Antifer collection. Launched in 2013, the Antifer collection is characterized by its architectural lines and sharp angles, drawing inspiration from sources such as the Japanese essentialism of Tadao Ando and the modern art abstraction of CY Twombly and Picasso.
Marking the milestone, the brand unveiled two special ring styles. One, a men’s ring from the No.8 Limited Edition series, released twice yearly, features distinctive details that set the collection apart. The Antifer Place Vendôme ring, a fresh interpretation of Antifer’s four-row diamond pavé style, highlights the brand’s dialogue between architecture, design, and jewelry. The launch, produced in collaboration with artist and designer Sabine Marcelis, features multicolored metallic mirrors in ring-teardrop form.
Paris Fashion Week: Goldrush and Nouvelle Box Jewelry Trade Shows
The boutique jewelry trade shows Goldrush and Nouvelle Box tend to showcase young, emerging brands, many of which feature diamonds. At Goldrush, standouts include German-brand Vieri founded by Guya Merkle which creates diamond pavé cloud shaped earrings and pendants, a modern symbol with a bit of imagination (aka ‘getting lost in the clouds.’) New York brand by jewelry newcomer Arden Kanet boasted impressive diamond stones including a highly undervalued antique diamond, originally set in silver that she sourced from a vintage dealer.
Nouvelle Box exhibitors such as Lebanese designer Clara Chehab, who infuses Middle Eastern motifs into her pieces, such as a diamond, peridot, and green sapphire necklace, and Megan Brown, who weaves gold like a textile and adds diamonds for sparkle and dimension.
