I’m immune to most luxury jewellery for two main reasons: first and foremost, I can’t afford it; second, I find most of it tasteless and verging towards the realm of kitsch. I do like wearing excessive and striking jewellery, but one of my requirement is that it must be tasteful. 
I often wonder why particular luxury brands obstinately keep on producing extremely heavy and horrendous jewels, chunky gold necklaces with enormous precious stones, rings that are impossible to wear without impairing hand movement and such likes. I guess the hugeness of some of these jewels proves how rich you are, but often states you don’t have much taste. There’s a luxury jewellery designer though I quite like, Hélène Zubeldia. After studying at Studio Berçot, Zubeldia joined Chloé and later on worked at Lanvin and Vanessa Bruno. These collaborations helped her getting a taste for luxury, and, while designing for the Joseph boutique, she launched her own line on the market in the mid-‘90s. Since then she has worked on her wonderful line of accessories.
Desire and a hint of decadent glamour might be the keywords to some of the pieces featured in her latest collection, such as the glass pearl and the crystal cascade necklaces or the maxi crystal cuffs and pearl bunch necklaces. My favourite pieces from this collection are the long necklaces, the metal and pearl cuffs and the metal and fluo crystal bracelets with their mirror-like quality. I also love Zubeldia’s "primitive" horn and leather chain necklace and the rather theatrical and tribal metal stick and pearl necklace. I like the way Zubeldia juxtaposes sophisticated crystals to resins and creates fashionable and wearable oxymorons to adorn your body with by mixing pure forms and lines with different materials.
It’s interesting how this designer applies in some of her accessories, such as the ones in leather and crystals, the techniques of tailoring and dressmaking. The succession of levels of some of her necklaces, the combination of materials and the creation of volumes in which the light plays creating contrasts between luminous and shadowed areas, between shiny crystals and metal and raw leather, seem indeed to be taken directly from fashion design techniques.
Some of Zubeldia’s pieces also have a geometric and symmetrical pattern, her cuffs tend to have a streamlined design and those assemblages of pure shapes, lines and curves remind me of jewellery pieces designed in the 1920s by Raymond Templier, who created jewels characterised by a purity of lines, a naturalness of proportions and an architectural beauty. German actress Brigitte Helm used to wear Templier’s jewels and I must admit I can picture in my mind strong and charismatic Helm wearing Zubeldia’s pieces as well. 
Hélène Zubeldia will showcase her latest collection at the Prêt–à–Porter Paris® (PAPP) international fashion trade exhibition, from 5th to 8th September 2008, and if you’re looking for bold statement jewellery with a new aesthetic and an elegant design, you’d better not miss this event.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photoshttp://www.boxxet.com/my/badgeBN.80.15.js?boxxetId=u23036
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photoshttp://www.boxxet.com/my/badgeBN.160.30.js?boxxetId=u23036
Rispondi