Decorations for New Year's Eve

Chose by Ekaterina Istomina

In September, the author of these lines took part in a ball at the Hofburg Palace. The success of my Viennese debut was undoubted: in a fierce competition, I won second place in the international fast waltz competition among fifty couples. The failure of my ball costume was also certain. As it turned out on the spot, the formal dress code for jewelry has changed. The ballroom (and with it the festive) dress code is now openly theatrical - a large brooch on the neckline of the dress, next to it there is a spreading necklace, iridescent pendants on the bodice, lush chandelier earrings in the ears, and several cuff bracelets on the wrists and on top is a precious watch. And finally, one of the most important elements of the ball is a shiny tiara in the hair or, at worst, a large flower, artificial or real. A precious lorgnette, a diamond mask, and a minaudiere handbag are desirable. Farewell to the mind and lyricism of innocence, replaced by images of courtesans, seductresses, pirates, dandy women, in a word, the grimaces of Balzac’s “Human Comedy”, revealed in carats, frames, cuts and placers.

Precious fauna

In fact, fauna promises to be the central jewelry theme of 2007. But you can start wearing these brilliant, wonderful precious animals, insects, birds, and reptiles already on New Year’s Eve. Since the theme of fauna is new in this historical period, all possible styles are welcomed at the first round of its popularity. For example, the somewhat forgotten Art Nouveau style. And it’s very good if you have the opportunity to buy real jewelry by Frédéric Bouchron, Rene Lalique or the Parisian master Fouquet.

Frédéric Boucheron, founder of the Boucheron company, became famous for making precious snakes worn by courtesans of the era of Napoleon III, the era of the Second Empire. These were brooches, necklaces, rings, aigrettes, tiaras made of diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies - in a word, everything serpentine, poisonous, insidious and as beautiful as it was utterly sinful. Chaumet's jewelers made grandiose spiders and birds. Cartier preferred long-winged dragonflies.

Then the presumptuous courtesans and their patrons were swept away by the broom of the revolution of 1871, the Parisian communards stepped on the throat of this bourgeois ruby snake. But they did not completely crush the viper - already at the end of the 1870s, the confused Parisian jewelers, who had sat out the revolutionary whirlwinds, as is customary, in London, offered their clients a new bestiary.

Both the Cartier house, the Parisian branch of the American Tiffany, and Fouquet and Lalique made figurines of dragonflies, butterflies, turtles, flies, spiders, beetles, horses, dogs, cats, exotic birds (hummingbirds, canaries, parrots, larks, penguins) . Moreover, rare African animals were in fashion - for example, giraffes, tigers, elephants and even hippos. Chimeras and gargoyles, mythical characters from the Gothic cathedrals of European cities, completely unknown to the strict science of Darwin, were also popular (today such things are no longer made, but the diamond chimera can be easily replaced with a diamond skull, the good old Gothic also has a right to a voice). Various fish flourished during the modern era.

It is not difficult to guess that later the general themes of the jewelry bestiary made it possible for different jewelry houses to develop their own themes and make them signature. For example, the theme of “cats” became important for Cartier (this is the famous “Panther”, whose first ornament appeared in 1914), the theme of reptiles - for Boucheron, and precious bird exercises turned out to be one of the main ones for the jewelry art of Van Cleef & Arpels.

Precious flora

A wonderful delicate flower made of transparent white diamonds - what could be more romantic, what could more strongly symbolize sincere feelings? Just a love letter.

The theme of precious flora is one of the eternal ones in jewelry. London and Parisian jewelers have always been a bit of a gardener. And they taught botany not according to Hegel, but according to the demanding requests of ladies and their solvent gentlemen. And here each era was marked by its own herbarium. For example, sentimentalism collected field delights - forget-me-nots, daisies, lilacs, peonies, spikelets. Romanticism - roses with their thorns, the heroic solemn Empire style - sharp gilded laurel leaves; in the era of Napoleon III, roses became popular again, but more magnificent than romantic roses. Art Nouveau jewelers paid more attention to transcendental and mysterious lilies, irises, and orchids. During the Art Deco era, decorative leaves and colorful fruits became popular (here we can recall the tutti-frutti style proposed by Cartier). Ethnic styles - Chinoiserie and Japanise, "Chinese" and "Japanese" - brought carnations and chrysanthemums to the European herbarium.

Today, precious flowers arranged in brooches, necklaces, pendants, rings and bracelets are an enduring piece of jewelry; it is like a constitution, a basic jewelry law. The role of the royal and generous goddess Flora at the New Year's holiday is very, very beneficial, but just don’t repeat the mistakes of others, so don’t forget to attach some kind of flower to your hair. Live or diamond.

Precious Theater

By theater we mean not only festive images in which you can perform - the goddess Flora, the goddess Fauna, Madame Pompadour, the courtesan Belle Otero, the heroine of the Moulin Rouge, Princess Diana, actresses Sarah Bernhardt or Sarah Jessica Parker. You have to understand that the very approach to choosing jewelry is theatrical. Classic parures or semi-parures will not be enough; you need to add to them some incredible, extravagant touch that will make everyone gasp and drop their glasses of champagne at your very appearance - a gold lorgnette, a mask, a tiara, an aigrette with a feather, a tiny minaudière, a gold cigarette holder, an inlaid ivory fan, wide gold belt. If even one such touch is found, then the energetic orchestra of the Vienna Opera will stop for a split second the waltzes of the shaggy darling Strauss - but this is exactly what we should all strive for. Of course, many items of true jewelry chic from past eras can no longer be found, except at auctions. But in the end, the “crazy” touch may be the rarest jewelry watch. Transformable jewelry or jewelry that has an unusually complex structure can also be considered theatrical.

Jewelry with a theatrical theme is also popular today - brooch masks (de Grisogono had them last year), a Piaget mask on a lorgnette stem, Chopard brooches and pendants in the form of clowns, Van Cleef & Arpels “ballet” jewelry from the “Dream in” collection summer night."

Garland style and pearl jewelry

"Garland" is a favorite style of the belle epoque, or fin de siecle. The “garland” style was the last, beautiful, but futile, tragic attempt to keep jewelry within a classical framework before it lost all its previous forms in Art Nouveau art. It is not difficult to distinguish garland jewelry: in the vast majority of cases, they are made of platinum (if not platinum, which came into fashion precisely with garland jewelry, then white gold) with the addition of white diamonds. There are also frequent cases of the presence of white pearls - both classic, smooth and round shapes, and “fancy” shapes. In other words, a “garland” is an exclusively, dazzlingly “white” decoration.

The main themes of the “garland” style are bows, arabesques, curls, monograms, lace, ruffles; in modern modifications, more figurative flowers and snowflakes have been added to them, but only in white colors. The epithets solemn and ceremonial could not be more applicable to “garland” decorations. They are most often called “family” jewelry.

Pieces of the garland style are conservative, calm and seemingly self-confident, but can often be read with a note of nostalgia. With the advent of Art Nouveau, jewelry art will never be the same: the “garland” style, which collected classic ceremonial subjects and reinforced its visible power with a white palette, is tragic. The “garland” decorations have what Proust later described - a premonition of passing, lost and finally lost time.

Disco style

It is no coincidence that it is in last place on our New Year's list of jewelry trends. The disco jewelry style, which became fashionable in 2006, promised to be short-lived - and in some ways it kept its promise; the New Year is its last chords. Jewelry disco is only yellow gold, bright semi-precious stones, open, laconic forms. By the way, disco is also an important “beach” diamond for those who are going to spend New Year’s Eve on the warm yellow sand. Jewelry in the "disco" style is intended for those who are looking for taste and sheer simplicity in their New Year's costume.

But do we need such everyday simplicity on New Year's holiday, when the whole night is lit with lights? On the very, very New Year, when the carriages drive up to the palace one after another and the doormen in uniforms formally run to the steps. When crowds of men in tailcoats say - and only to you - the most beautiful nonsense in the world. When the mustachioed master of ceremonies suddenly claps his hands loudly, announcing a long list of waltzers. And then, leaving the minaudiere, fan and program on the table, you rush to take your place in a line of waltzing couples, so that later, spinning to the sounds of the Blue Danube, you can see happy faces flashing nearby - in the shine of real diamonds and huge crystal chandeliers.

Brilliance without poverty