Beyoncé's favourite jeweller Messika presents dazzling 'back to basics' diamond high jewellery
High jewellery collections are usually years in the making - it’s not uncommon for houses to have started working on their 2022 collections already. So the fact that Messika managed to design and create a 20-piece high jewellery collection since its craftspeople returned to its Parisian workshop following the lockdown on May 20 this year is no mean feat.
Founder Valérie Messika had planned to launch a major new collection during Paris Haute Couture week, but due to the coronavirus crisis that idea is on hold, for now. So, not wanting to disappoint her loyal clients, she pulled together a concise collection that will satisfy their desire for major, major stones.
“For this collection I wanted to go back to basics and just focus on the diamonds,” said Valérie, the daughter of a prominent Parisian diamond dealer, as she presented the new pieces to press via Zoom. “I called up my dad and said, ‘hi dad, please can you send me some nice stones?’”
André Messika did not disappoint. Among the dazzling stones featured in the collection are a 10.19ct Fancy yellow pear cut, set on a hinged appendage to a diamond-set ring; a 13.5ct heart-shaped diamond balancing precariously on the inside of an oversized hoop; and two Fancy Intense blue and pink-purple marquise cuts that sit side-by-side on an open ring, counterbalanced by a five-carat white stone.
The collection, named Voltige (meaning aerobatics) is loosely inspired by a circus theme. “We’d just come back from a very hard period and I wanted to do something light,” says Valérie.
Her aim was to make the diamonds appear weightless, as though floating through the air. An ear cuff sees two pear-cut stones float like trapeze artists between rigid diamond-set bars, while in the Danseurs Aériens earrings a five-carat emerald-cut and a six-carat pear-cut defy gravity as they ascend a tightrope of polished gold.
“I’m obsessed with the idea of diamonds being like a tattoo - I always want them to be as close to the skin as possible,” she continues. This presents a challenge when working with such sizeable stones, but it’s achieved by shedding as much gold as possible. “I want to try to erase the gold completely so all you see is diamonds.”
Thus in open rings the stones appear to float between the fingers, reminiscent of the way in which diamond dealers appraise loose stones - a practice Valérie became accustomed to at an early age.
A sense of movement was all-important: in the Illusionistes ear cuffs, three-carat pear-cut stones dangle freely, shimmying with every nod or shake of the head, while the Trapézistes earrings feature graphic diamond-shaped outlines that flutter as they overlap.
The Equaliser necklace comprises articulated shards of pavé or channel-set gold, clasped together with a six-carat yellow diamond at the centre of the throat. This particular piece was created earlier this year and worn by Beyoncé at the Superbowl in February with a white diamond at its centre.
The singer is one of Messika’s most loyal fans: it was thanks to an Instagram post in 2014 in which she pointed at the Mona Lisa wearing a Messika ring that the then-fledgling brand truly took off, and she has since worn its jewellery to many high-profile events, including borrowing several million Euros worth for the video for Apes**t.
Along with the likes of Gigi Hadid (with whom Messika has collaborated), Selena Gomez and Toni Garrn, Beyoncé epitomises Messika’s modern, millennial-friendly approach to high jewellery.
“Jewellery used to be about showing off your status, or marking a particular event in life, but I see it more like fashion - it’s about your style, personality and femininity,” says Valérie. Earrings are often sold as singles, or in mismatched pairs: one large, one smaller, one with added stones, one without. “It’s more of a rock’n’roll feeling.”
Despite the levity of the theme, these are pieces with serious attitude. One pinkie ring sends a dagger-like spike of baguette-cut diamonds extending from the side of the hand. Messika might have wanted something light, but there’s no doubt that these post-lockdown designs carry a fighting spirit.
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