Style Edit: Chopard’s latest Red Carpet collection, inspired by fairy tales for Cannes Red Carpet

Where is better suited to the debut of an annual collection called Red Carpet, than the red carpet of one of the world’s most photographed and star-studded events: the Cannes Film Festival? Indeed, it has long been a tradition for Chopard to launch its high jewellery highlight of the year at the festival, where famous faces and international movie stars come together to celebrate the art of filmmaking.

Chopard’s storied partnership with Cannes began in 1998, with the maison not only creating trophies for festival winners but also a high jewellery collection to adorn actors and actresses as they strut down the red carpet.

This year was no different as the 77-piece collection was revealed in all its sparkling glory, gracing the cinema world’s most beautiful and iconic faces. Necklaces, rings, earrings and watches – among other pieces – were all lit with the glittering fire of diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other precious gems, and were inspired this year by a theme close to the cinematic world’s heart: fairy tales.

At the helm of the Contes de Fées’ Red Carpet collection was Chopard’s co-president and artistic director, Caroline Scheufele. Thanks to her creative vision and eye for proportion and colour, the 77 creations were bursting with whimsy and wonder, as a world of fantasy met the animals and plants of our natural world, ever important sources of inspiration for Chopard over the decades.

Scheufele’s animal-inspired creations spotlight not only those animals that are favoured as heroes or heroines in fairy tales, nor do they single out majestic creatures conventionally associated with beauty and grace. Instead, the artistic director has been embracing nature fully since the 2010 Animal World collection, employing a playful touch to give less-loved creatures such as flies, pigs, rats and even sardines the glamorous high jewellery treatment.

This year’s Red Carpet collection, too, sings the praises of formerly unsung heroes of nature. The blue whale gets the recognition in this case, alongside make-believe characters such as fairies, angels, unicorns and dragons.

Adorned with a gradient setting of sapphires and diamonds, the Whale ring, like all of the pieces from the Red Carpet collection, is crafted in ethical gold. The whale is further brought to life with onyx cabochon eyes while its mouth, ajar, holds a 1.77-carat pear-shaped aquamarine.