INSPIRATIONS

Belperron Vintage on the current Carolina Herrera Spring 2017 Runway September 13, 2016INSPIRATIONS, RunwayOff

The grace and effortless sophistication that defines Carolina Herrera’s distinctive design sensibility culminated in a homage to her past and present in looks that were seamlessly styled with Belperron jewelry during Herrera’s spring 2017 runway show.

Belperron’s debut on the catwalk couldn’t have been more on point—it brought together the aesthetics of two powerful women designers. Each of Belperron’s archival and new pieces seemed to accentuate the beauty of Herrera’s mark on fashion as she celebrates her 35th year in business.

The Belperron pieces were styled to perfection on Herrera’s delightful play of ginghams and stripes, draped into glamorous flowing and more structured gowns. Two rock crystal, diamond, lacquer, platinum and gold ‘Carduceus’ brooches were clasped on the shoulders of a sleeveless striped dress. One of the more recognizable pieces, a diamond and lacquer torque encircled the neck of a model wearing an off the shoulder black and white pleated number. Also accessorizing the show were vintage bamboo brooches that clip onto a necklace, more torques, bracelets and the ‘Corne’ ear clips, which Amber Vallenta wore to the Met Gala this past May.  These pieces proved that femininity and strength can co-exist in both jewelry and fashion collections and in the women designing them.

Ward Landrigan, chairman of Verdura and former head of Sotheby’s Jewelry acquired the rights to the Belperron name and 9,200 archival drawings in 1998. His son Nico Landrigan joined the company as president and together opened a salon on Fifth Avenue in October 2016. The chic salon houses a new collection based on original Belperron designs as well as the vintage jewels that the Landrigans have collected over the years. Suzanne Belperron was like many prolific, wildly imaginative talents; she was ahead of her time.

 

She mixed precious and non-precious materials, creating her own definition of fine jewelry and what it meant to her and her fashionable clients who included, but were not limited to Elsa Schiaparelli, the Duchess of Windsor and Diana Vreeland.   Her designs represented a world of taste and style rather than status, and like Carolina Herrera; she understood what women wanted to wear. She has a long and intricate history, one that we will delve into in a later story. But for now—let’s take a look at the runway collaboration of two of the great female tastemakers of the 20^th century.