The 5 biggest trends we spotted from high jewellery season: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Cartier, Bulgari and Dior all debut dazzling collections for 2024

High jewellery season came and went in sumptuous style, as ever. From a Viennese fling with Cartier and pure American luxury with Tiffany & Co. at the Beverley Estate in Los Angeles, to sojourns in some of the world’s most romantic cities – Venice with Chaumet and Rome, of course, with Bulgari – jewellers were out to impress. Not only with dazzling feats of savoir faire and exceptional gemstones, but in the presentation of their new collections. After all, wooing a high jewellery client takes serious time and effort.

This year’s collections were audacious, with an emphasis on pushing technique to the limit in pieces requiring thousands of hours to make, all still done by hand. A profound reminder of this very human endeavour is learning that in a career of 40 years, an artisan in the Cartier high jewellery workshop may make “just” 40 pieces.

In an increasingly competitive category – with the likes of luxury fashion houses Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior going up against traditional jewellers such as Cartier, Bulgari and Tiffany & Co. – dazzling the world’s most desired clients with ever more exceptional pieces has become de rigueur.

1. Animalia is very much a thing

Cartier looked to the animal kingdom, long a source of inspiration in both figurative and abstract expression throughout the brand’s history, for this year’s Nature Sauvage collection. Jacqueline Karachi, Cartier’s director of high jewellery creation, wanted to focus on playful and unexpected depictions of animals. To wit, a flamingo hiding among emerald foliage and, in the Koaga necklace, an abstraction of a zebra with onyx and diamond stripes framing a luscious rubellite. The maison’s favourite feline, the panther, was of course the star, seen stalking elegantly in exceptional pieces such as the rock crystal and kite-shaped diamond Panthère des Glaces necklace, and in a striking bracelet and ring hybrid piece, the Panthère Jaillissante, set with an 8.63-carat Zambian emerald.

Meanwhile at Dior, creative director Victoire de Castellane imagined woodland creatures including foxes, hedgehogs, deer and squirrels, hiding among ponds of blue sapphire and the brush of diamonds. Some of the critters were realised using the ancient art of glyptic – the engraving of precious stones – as well as with lacquer.

Tiffany & Co. continued to reimagine one of its best-known pieces, Bird on a Rock, first introduced in 1965, with the latest brooches set with emeralds, rubellites, sapphires and opals.

2. Epic pieces that are easy to wear

The paradox of high jewellery is that though it comprises the most dramatic, extravagant creations using the most exceptional (often, gumdrop-sized) gemstones, it is meant to be light, supple and easy to wear. This idea was particularly well expressed at Chaumet, which looked to music and dance, arts with which the storied jeweller has a long affinity, for inspiration. This could be seen in pieces such as the Ballet necklace, which called to mind dancers in mid-pirouette, with cushion-cut sapphires from Sri Lanka set with round sapphires and brilliant-cut diamonds in white gold; and the Tango earrings, which recalled the vivacity of dance with juicy rubellite and greenish-blue tourmalines surrounded by brilliant-cut diamonds.