But how to translate this into jewelry? It’s all in the V. The inverted triangle shape appears across the collection as an accent in onyx, a repeated shape in diamond pave, or diamond shoulders at the outer edges of an enormous opal set as a ring. It’s suggested in the shape of the bold black onyx surround that frames a vivid emerald in the bold “Newport” ring, and the blue enamel shapes surrounded by diamonds, pearls, and equally blue tourmalines in the generous lengths of the Exelsior necklace.
Louis Vuitton’s Great Escape Acte V/The Escape takes its cue from the artist movement Streamline Moderne
As far as aesthetic and artistic movements go, I’m more fascinated layman than expert. Art Nouveau I pretty much have sussed. Art Deco I get – not least because everything I’m most attracted to, be it furniture, textiles, jewellery or vintage fashion – usually hails from that era, as I keep finding out. But Streamline Moderne? That’s a new one for me. It’s also the inspiration behind the sixth and latest high jewelery collection from Louis Vuitton, “Acte V/The Escape”. As it turns out, Streamline Moderne is what it says on the box – streamlined. Those smooth curves of cars from the 1930s – the long, sweeping lines of their fenders – and the austere, ballooning shape of the Zeppelin, that’s all Streamline Moderne. A lot of the furniture we think of as Mid-Century Modern – the fat, squat chairs with smooth, curved lines, often in gleaming steel and soft leather – are all under the influence of this forward-looking movement. 54 ModernLifestyles.tv
But just as prevalent as this iconic V shape is the tassel – multiple strands of tsavorite beads or pearls suspended as bunches from drop earrings, choker-like diamond necklaces and a cuff. The tassel is synonymous with jewellery of the Art Deco era, but as Acte V/The Escape is the second chapter of a high jewelery collection which started with the Art Deco-inspired first chapter, it makes sense. And, as always with the luxury French maison, travel is an underlying theme, and in the case of this high jewelery collection, it is in the colours of the materials that travel is evoked – a remarkable grey Burmese sapphire like a sea fog, iridescent Australian opals evoking the colours of the ocean, and the exotic blues of a particular shade of tourmaline. Tahitian pearls, Australian opals, Burmese sapphires – Acte V/The Escape lives up to its name with a round-the-world trip of a collection inspired by a bold aesthetic movement that has me fascinated. Louis Vuitton www.louisvuitton.com
