It’s 630pm, and it feels like I’ve just entered a scene straight out of a fairy tale. The MAK Museum in front of me is silhouetted against a dusky Viennese sky in a palette of blues that would have Van Gogh reaching for his brushes. And though the geotag is wrong, I imagine this is what French author Charles Perrault’s Cinderella must have felt when she pulled up to the castle in her gilded pumpkin carriage.
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The magic continues as I step onto the 160-year-old grounds of the Early Renaissance building to partake in the glamorous evening that Cartier has planned for us. Past the well-heeled guests dressed to their nines in black-tie finery is the high-ceilinged main hall where a Viennese Waltz is taking place. (With Vienna being the home of “King of Waltz”, Johann Strauss II, I expect nothing less.) Encircling the dancers are rows of short chrome stools that have been cleverly placed to give everyone a front-row seat to the presentation that is to soon follow. The latter is the raison d'etre why everyone—including brand ambassadors and friends like Elle Fanning, Sofia Coppola, Anna Sawai, Franz Rogowski, Sofie Royer, Kimberley Anne Woltemas, Yoyo Cao and British singer-songwriter Raye, who is to perform at the afterparty—has flown in from around the globe to grace the evening. And it's obvious that Cartier’s guests are anticipating the parade of animals that Cartier has to show in its latest 87-piece high jewellery collection, Nature Sauvage.
“Nature Sauvage presents a fresh look at the Cartier Bestière,” said Jacqueline Karachi-Langane, Cartier’s creative director of high jewellery, when I spoke to her the previous day. “For this collection, we imagined the animals caught in a moment in surprising, imaginary environments—just an instant in their existence like a freeze-frame. It’s meant to be full of unexpected encounters that surprise and amaze.” Having just before walked through the exhibition for a personal meet-and-greet with the glittering animals—within the 19th-century walls of the city’s prestigious Kursalon Hübner music hall, no less—I have to say that Cartier has undoubtedly delivered on that front.
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On the Celustun necklace sits a magnificent diamond-studded flamingo that preens itself amidst a bed of articulated emerald and aquamarine bead reeds. Beneath that dangles a sizeable emerald-cut 38.50-carat aquamarine to emphasise the design’s aquatic setting. The necklace took over 1,000 hours to create, and the results show in the immense attention that has been dedicated to bringing the scene to life—from the bird’s tiny twinkling yellow diamond eye to the tip of its rose gold and black lacquer beak.
Another necklace that features an impressive stone is the Mochelys necklace with its 71.90-carat pear-cut rubellite. So vibrant and intense is the colour of the gem that one almost misses the detachable hide-and-seek turtle that sits right above the stunning rock on its rose gold floral wreath. A sense of playfulness complements the necklace’s grown-up glamour, which could explain why Karachi-Langane’s eyes lit up when she spoke of the creation. “[The designer] imagined a camouflage effect that hides the turtle in the flower necklace so you don’t see it at first. But you can remove it from the necklace, and it becomes a brooch.” This creation took no less than 1,300 hours to produce.
With the Panthère des Glaces necklace, Cartier’s emblematic beast is set in an astonishing vignette that delivers drama with a frozen winter white backdrop that’s seemingly cracked and fractured. Achieved through kite-shaped diamonds encircled by rock crystal borders, Karachi-Langane explained that the atelier imagined an ice floe breaking under the weight of the feline. This multi-layered piece was a challenging piece to produce. Not only is its white gold frame composed of articulated components to hug the neck and rest on skin, but the leopard’s lithe body—entirely paved with diamonds and sapphire spots—is realistically rendered with carefully sculpted lines and volumes to portray its powerful, purposeful muscles.
“We considered the way the animals move their bodies and their facial expressions because we wanted to show the character, and the soul, the anima of the animals,” she said. “But it’s not only the animals themselves that deliver surprise; it’s the context and the story we put around them. This brings modernity to the Cartier Bestiaire.”
The Alae necklace illustrates this point perfectly. Showcasing the famed Art Deco geometry of New York’s Chrysler Building, the diamond creation is accented with custom-cut onyx inserts to add visual depth and contrast to its symmetrical lines. It’s a gorgeous piece that any sophisticate would be proud to own, but it does take a closer inspection to discover the fauna within its form: A beautiful beetle that sits at the back of the neck with outstretched wings serving as a “drawstring” clasp.
When I asked Karachi-Langane the dreaded question of which designs from the collection are her favourites (a question, as I’ve been told repeatedly, is akin to asking a mother to choose between her children), she included this necklace on her list of collection highlights. It’s a somewhat surprising choice considering the apparent splendour and grandeur that some of the other designs offer. But it is precisely this subtlety that tickles her fancy: “You don’t see [the beetle] at first, but when you do, you are surprised, and you see that it’s a very playful piece.”
As for the collection’s most challenging piece to produce, Karachi-Langane unhesitantly replied that it was the Panthère Jaillissante bracelet/ring. It’s easy to understand why. With its tail anchored around the wrist, the panther’s svelte body stretches across the back of the hand to land its ringed paw (and a 8.63-carat Zambian emerald) at the finger. “We always try to challenge ourselves and push the boundaries of technical know-how further,” she told me. “This design needed to be completely articulated because it needed to be sculpted on the hand but still be flexible to allow your hand to move, and it needed to be adjustable because everyone’s hand has different dimensions.”
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Fast forward to a day later, and I am excited to be able to finally see how the jewellery interacts with the body. As the models start making their way down their designated paths in The MAK, I discover that the “surprising encounters” and “unexpected contexts” approach that was so talked about yesterday has extended beyond the boundaries of Cartier’s haute joaillerie universe. Thanks to the designs of Paris-based Australian designer Jonathon Ailwood, the presentation has an ease and a freshness of attitude, with a number of baseball-silhouetted tops, oversized trousers and pastel-hued suits joining the racks of the traditional flowing gowns that typically clothe jewellery models. It’s a thoroughly modern take—and a brilliant move on Cartier’s part—that guides guests to shift their perception of how the jewellery can and should be worn; beyond the confines of ballgowns and tail coats.
About an hour later, as dinner by Juan Amador (of three-Michelin-starred Amador restaurant fame) is underway, I turn to my table companion to ask her what she thinks of the presentation. “It was amazing! I couldn’t take my eyes off the panther,” she says while cupping the back of her hand. “But it’s Cartier. I’d take anything they throw at me.” It’s a sentiment that many would agree with (not least an animal lover like myself), especially after such a magical night of wonderment, courtesy of Cartier.