Star Power: Cosmic jewellery in contemporary culture
Despite personkind having first set foot on the moon some 50 years ago, intermittently successful unmanned missions to Mars and, most recently, candid snaps of a black hole at play, outer space remains very much the Great Unknown, a region that fascinates and terrifies mere earthbound mortals in almost equal measure. The Final Frontier, as it was memorably billed by one TV sci-fi franchise, continues to inspire in countless mediums, with its depths explored almost as thoroughly by the human imagination as by any high-tech NASA probe.
With the night sky seemingly a celestial diamond array, it’s no surprise that haute joaillerie brands have so oft looked to the heavens for inspiration, with the sun, the moon and the stars frequently motifed in cosmic jewellery designs by many of the leading marques. This is evident in such high-end offerings as Cartier’s Les Galaxies de Cartier collection or Piaget’s Sunlight Escape collection.
While some jewellery designers have turned to otherworldly materials to render their works in a truly stellar style – most notably milky quartz, moonstones or rock crystals – others have opted for iconic astral avatars. Of the latter, this has seen Chopard’s Happy Diamonds pendant necklace give the sun star billing, while Buccellati’s black-gold Macri cuff bracelet has more than a little of the night about it.
Of course, given this is the world of haute joaillerie, regardless of any piece’s lunar leanings or solar stylings, the price of any cosmic jewellery, too, is almost guaranteed to be somewhat astronomical.
