Lady LUX

Founded in 1932, fine jewelry brand Harry Winston knows all about classic elegance, and its new 40-piece line, its biggest collection thus far, is no exception. Featuring dazzling, unique diamond and platinum necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings, Ultimate Adornments is rooted in adorning a woman in diamonds, inspired by seven various dress embellishments, reported WWD.

“The story is a journey to different cultures and a different part of time,” Harry Winston’s art director, Sandrine De Laage, said to WWD. “The idea is to catch the sensibility and the language of all these cultures together…of costume adornments worn for centuries … We thought, What is an adornment? It’s what you put directly onto your skin and body to be beautiful, to celebrate yourself and extraordinary, meaningful moments in your life. This is the translation of that idea into a piece of jewelry.”

The collection initiated a year ago when De Laage and her team members started to pore over the immense repertoire of sketches in the Winston archives. From these 10,000 designs, they narrowed down seven concepts to form the basis of the new line: Indian caftans; guipure lace; Point d’alençon lace; Qipao, a form-fitting Chinese dress; Deel, the traditional structured Mongolian gown; the looks of the deceased jeweler’s wife Edna Winston; and the glitzy, draped styles of Old Hollywood, particularly the Winston designs Jennifer Jones wore at the Oscars while winning her Best Actress award in 1943.

The Indian-based looks evoke the styles of the late Ambaji Shinde, Harry Winston’s principal jewelry designer for more than 40 years, who got his beginning working with textiles in his homeland, India. The Caftan Tassel necklace is a particular knockout, featuring fully 222 diamonds. With four different settings—channel, prong, bezel and pavé – the 68-carat necklace hugs the neck with true splendor.

All the pieces were painstakingly handcrafted in the company’s Fifth Avenue workshop, with some requiring almost 1,000 hours to create. The precious materials and detailed work is reflected in the prices: $37,000 to in the millions.

Ultimate Adornments is part of new company approach shaped by Frédéric de Narp, who became the jeweler’s president and CEO in January 2010. “We now have the full team and full vision to take the DNA of Harry Winston, the 100,000-piece archive, to the world,” de Narp said.

After raking in $427.5 million in sales during the last year ending in July, Harry Winston is poised to take on new markets, with sales projections of about $1 billion over the course of the next seven to nine years.

With a newly launched boutique in Dubai, a second boutique opening in Dubai this year and two shops in Shanghai in the works, the fine jewelry house is growing its international presence. The brand anticipates reaching 35 directly operated Harry Winston salons, 20 partner salons and 300 wholesale doors by fiscal 2016.

“We are now embarking on expressing the brand,” de Narp said. “It’s a defining moment and it’s very exciting.”

Check out Harry Winston at www.harrywinston.com.

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