Advertising
Dior’s Rose des Vents
Dior’s Rose des Vents
A lucky star calling travel
January 23rd, 2016
It all began at Granville, in the villa where Christian Dior had spent his childhood. Overlooking the sea, originally built by a shipowner, it’s named Les Rhumbs, the name given to the thirty-two divisions of the wind rose (the ‘rose des vents’ in French), and in effect, everything about it alludes to travel. The Channel Islands are visible in the far distance when the weather is good, and the boats that passed near the steep coastlines had the Americas as their next stop. And in the pool, behind the house, the wind rose motif is traced out on the mosaic bottom.
It all began at Granville, and it was also in the garden here that the couturier’s passion for flowers took root ~ for hawthorn, mignonette, and in particular his beloved roses, which he grew himself.
Emilla Clarke, the new face of Dior’s Rose des Vents jewellery collection
Later, in Paris, it was as the result of finding a somewhat mysterious star on the ground that highly superstitious Christian Dior decided to open his own couture house, interpreting this chance find as a portent of his destiny. And it was then from Paris, with that same lucky star in his pocket, that he headed off to the four winds to discover the world and present his collections in which the rose always played a starring role.
All these stories are contained in the Rose des Vents collection by Victoire de Castellane. “I wanted to start from the idea of a little motif pendant. And what is more metaphorical than a medallion,?” the Dior Joaillerie creative director asks. “A symbol of travel, in it you find echoes of Christian Dior’s star and the idea of the goof-luck charm, but also the rose, his favorite flower. The whole history of the house is there, implicitly.” There are necklaces and bracelets in white gold and mother-of-pearl, in yellow gold and lapis lazuli, and in turquoise with mother-of-pearl. Elsewhere, there is rose gold with onyx, and three sautoirs in yellow gold and turquoise, lapis lazuli and mother-of-pearl: the jewels have all the delicacy of a little story gently whispered.
In a nod to rigging and an ode to the ocean, a twist of gold rice grains encircles the medallion hanging from its chain, showing either its hardstone or wind rose face, according to the wearer’s movements. As bracelets, and necklaces short and long, the collection develops the motif, broadening the horizon for the medallion jewel. “Rose des vents is also a metaphor for creation,” explains Victoire de Castellane. “Creating is about searching, turning things over, and then finding ones cardinal point and setting off on a journey. Creation is the product of a stationary voyage.”
