Alessandro Michele’s Jewelry Fever Dream Takes Us On a Pas de Deux Through History
Alessandro Michele is the creative director of Gucci, the venerable Italian label celebrating its 100th anniversary. Gucci sweater. Gucci high jewelry hortus deliciarum diamond and paraiba tourmaline earrings; diamond and yellow beryl necklace. CECILE BORTOLETTI
The birth of the Grand Tour is often attributed to a 1670 text by Richard Lassels called The Voyage of Italy. It spawned copycat travel guides and inspired generations of well-heeled Englishmen and Northern Europeans to travel across the continent, making stops at classical sites in such cities as Florence, Venice, and Rome. The Grand Tour soon became an essential part of an elite cultural education. And after 18 months of travel, and the return to the comforts of home, souvenirs were required to mark the journey. Cameos, intaglios, and micro-mosaics, often depicting cultural sights and figures, began to appear on fashionable lapels and wrists and fingers. These mementos are now called Grand Tour jewelry, and they are a connoisseur’s collectible, devoid of glittering stones or conspicuous flash but rather symbols of a cultivated aesthetic, the kind of piece that functions as a secret signal, a jewelry-people version of #IYKYK. They are rare treasures sometimes spotted in places like Pennisi in Milan, Dary’s in Paris, Wartski in London, and Fred Leighton in New York. And, occasionally, backstage at Gucci.
Gucci high jewelry hortus deliciarum diamond and paraiba tourmaline bracelet; diamond and green tourmaline ring. CECILE BORTOLETTI
Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s celebrated creative director, has at least one. It is part of a personal jewelry collection, evident on his person and in his Instagram feed, that is as eclectic and reference-rich as the universe he has constellated around the 100-year-old Italian house. (Remember that Never Marry a Mitford sweater? The ancient Greek lettering embroidered on a jacket? Tippi Hedren?) Michele calls his passion a kind of “fever.” “Those kinds of jewels,” he tells me when I confess my envy of the Grand Tour bracelet and admit to having followed it, and him, backstage to get a closer look, “are for people who are obsessed. It’s a very specific obsession, but I’m laughing because really it’s a disease. I’m a collector of a lot of things, but jewels, they are dangerous, because they are small and you can get so many. With paintings, there is a point when you stop, because you run out of storage. Jewels have the same power, but you have enough space to put them almost everywhere.”
Gucci bodysuit ($1,300). Gucci high jewelry hortus deliciarum diamond, tanzanite, tsavorite, and yellow beryl earrings; diamond and tsavorite necklace and earrings. Valentine Colasante is an Etoile ballet dancer at the Opéra de Paris. @valentine_colasante CECILE BORTOLETTI
We are not actually here to talk about Michele’s personal collection—or the Grand Tour, for that matter. The subject at hand is his second High Jewelry collection for Gucci, a presentation in four parts of approximately 130 pieces, most of them one-of-a-kind, titled Hortus Deliciarum (“Garden of Delights” in Latin). But the past clearly speaks to Michele, and his knowledge of jewelry lore is threaded through every Edwardian-inspired garland, Georgianesque rivière, and Renaissance painting–style collar in the boldly imagined collection. And yet, just when the influence of history might appear to be too heavy, a piece takes a turn toward Gucci. One necklace, in wildly colored imperial topaz, rubellites, peridots, citrines, and mandarin garnets, cascades into the Edwardian era’s signature bow, a motif that the period (named after Queen Victoria’s son, who had a penchant for fanciful excess) borrowed from the court of Versailles. The sweetness of the bow is disrupted by a series of shooting diamond stars, so while the bow may recall the French crown jewels or Empress Eugénie’s brooch (now on view at the Louvre), and the exploding stars could certainly be a nod to the 27 diamonds the Austrian empress Sisi famously wore in her hair, the mashup feels singularly at home at Michele’s Gucci—and perhaps on his modern muses, like the musician Florence Welch and the actresses Hari Nef and Jodie Turner-Smith.
“Sometimes, when you see a necklace that is completely finished, and you have it in front of you, you would love to take a bow.” Alessandro Michele
“When I started designing the High Jewelry, I was thinking about all the beautiful pieces from the Georgian and Edwardian eras. Edwardian jewels were the beginning of the contemporary way to make a jewel—how to cut the stones in the right way. So I had in my mind all the years of this amazing work, and I started getting back to these old jewels, first of all because I collect so many pieces of that era, but also because they still have something unbelievable. I try to, in a way, replicate something about them: the round stones, the technique, the right shape. I also tried to use a lot of different colors of stones, which maybe they would not have done, but in the Renaissance there was a very huge sensibility in colors, and now we are a little bit more about just one color. I wanted to mix and match all these eras. Sometimes, when you see a necklace that is completely finished, and you have it in front of you, you would love to take a bow.” There is also, throughout our conversation, and the collection, a clear and present reverence for stones—for their beauty, yes, but also for the wonder of their natural existence. The necklace with the bow is centered on an 8-carat opal. The collection also includes violet and plum spinels, Paraíba tourmalines, violet tanzanite, sunflower-yellow beryl. There are diamonds, of course, and yes, emeralds too.
Gucci men’s pants. Gucci high jewelry hortus deliciarum diamond and tanzanite necklace; diamond and blue sapphire ring. Paul Marque is an Etoile ballet dancer at the Opéra de Paris. @paulmarque CECILE BORTOLETTI
Each, in Michele’s mind, has something to say. “I try to have the stones in conversation,” he says. “I usually put inside things of nature, color, and the provenance of the stone, the light that [reflects] when you look at the stone. There is always a thought about the power and the beauty of the stone connected with the earth, because the stones belong to the earth. When people think about stones, they don’t know that they are the results of millions and millions of years of work, just by chance. It’s mysterious. Sometimes I’m obsessed with mixing the stones—like sapphires—with other colors. I don’t always put the same color in the same piece. I like different shapes and different shades.
“Today I was shooting a few pictures, and I was looking at the first pieces that came out from the collection. People think they are so perfect that they look fake. It’s amazing that we say the word fake—it’s like you’re saying that they need the manipulation of human beings to be perfect. The reality is that nature is much more perfect than the way we can work on it. If I wanted to replicate a color as deep as spinel, if I wanted to repeat a color like this on fabric or a piece of wood, I couldn’t.”
Gucci dress ($5,980). Gucci high jewelry hortus deliciarum diamond and spinel earrings; multi-finger diamond and rubellite ring; diamond and pink tourmaline ring. Stephan Rouyer
How does someone who feels so deeply about the power of jewels react when he sees someone wearing one of his own? “I will tell you something, because you have the same fever that I have. Today I was looking at the first few pieces that came out, and I saw the tanzanite necklace, and I was looking at it like it was a baby. I was like, ‘You look so amazing. I hope that you will have a mom and dad that will take care of you.’ I know every single stone and shape. Every single piece—it’s like they belong to me, like I’m gifting you something that is from me. I want them to see how sincere my love is. They are not buying a piece from Gucci and my design, they are buying something from my heart. I always want to know who they are.”
Well, I know one: an adventurously chic friend on the West Coast who feels as if her new Gucci High Jewelry animal bracelet is a work of art. It will be very, very well taken care of.
Hair and makeup by Sergio Corvacho. Nails by Magali Buisson. Tailoring by Alice Chastel-Mazin. Production services by Louis2.
This story appears in the September 2021 issue of Town & Country.
Christine Quinn catches the eye in a colorful Gucci cardigan on a Starbucks run in West Hollywood
Christine Quinn was not hard to miss as she donned a very colorful outfit to get Starbucks in West Hollywood on Friday.
The 33-year-old Selling Sunset beauty looked leggy as she modeled a colorful Gucci cardigan over an eye-catching pink strapless set.
The platinum haired reality star was seen grabbing a few iced beverages before returning to her yellow Lamborghini Urus.
Coffee run: Christine Quinn, 33, exudes glamour as she pulls up to a West Hollywood Starbucks in her Lamborghini Urus wearing a colorful Gucci sweater
The realtor-turned-reality star strutted through the parking lot in a black Gucci cardigan with rainbow ‘G’s’ and matching trim.
She opted to use the sweater as a dress before she revealed a bright pink bandeau top and matching skirt set on her way out.
The new mom flashed her very flat midriff in the process, just three months after she welcomed her first child Christian with husband Christian Richard.
Adding a touch more glamour to the look she wore a pair of sparkly stilettos with a bow that accentuated her incredible legs and a diamond tennis necklace.
Soft smile: The glitzy reality star dressed up her designer cardigan with a pair of sparkly stilettos
New mom: She revealed a bright pink bandeau top and matching skirt set on her way out that showed off her very flat midriff just three months after welcoming her first child
And her signature platinum tresses were left down with a bright blue headband as she shielded her eyes behind a pair of yellow lensed aviators.
The breakout star of the hit Netflix show has been hard at work filming season four of the show with her equally stunning castmates.
And for a bit of work and play the show recently brought the cast overseas to film in both Mykonos and Southern Italy.
European vacation: Christine and her husband Christian enjoyed a nearly month long vacation overseas with their three-month-old son Christian; pictured July 22
Living large: Quinn married the former tech entrepreneur on the hit Netflix show which is currently in production on its fourth season and it was already renewed for a fifth; pictured August 17
On Tuesday she and her family jetted back to the US by way of private jet as their luxury vacation came to a close.
Though Christine has never been one to play by the rules, her ongoing on-screen feud with castmate Chrishell Stause is set to get a bit more complicated after it was revealed the DWTS vet is dating one of Oppenheim Group’s bosses, Jason.
‘We’re probably not going to be hanging out as soon as the cameras are down,’ Stause told PEOPLE last month after saying that the on-screen drama between them ‘is still going to be there,’ because motherhood hadn’t changed ‘much’ of Christine’s personality.
The show has already been renewed for a fifth season after it became an instant hit on the streaming service, and it received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program last week.
Harry Styles Rocks the Over-the-Shoulder Sweater
It’s no secret that Harry Styles knows how to dress. Whether he’s on the red carpet, performing on stage, or simply walking around town, the singer has a distinctive personal style of his own. It’s well-documented that he’s partial to feather boas, groovy suits, and how could anyone forget the custom Gucci dress he donned on his Vogue cover? Yesterday, however, Styles was spotted in Sherman Oaks, California with a brand new fashion proposal: He rocked the preppy over-the-shoulder sweater, and in a way only he can.
In elevated casual wear, Styles stepped out in ripped jeans and a graphic tee with a light blue sweater nonchalantly slung over his shoulders. The knit wasn’t tied tightly around the neck in the style of, say, a frequent country club-goer. Rather, it was barely tied at all—as though Styles flung it over his shoulders before walking out the door in a rush. The end result looked cool yet elegant. His checkered Vans sneakers also made the drapey sweater moment feel youthful and not like how your grandpa would wear it. (Though, if Styles leaned into granddad style, something tells us he would still somehow pull it off.)
So, the next time you want to bring a sweater out in case it gets cold later, remember to do it like Styles: Just throw it over the shoulder, then head on out the door. Don’t overthink it or fuss with it too much—it’s the rockstar way.