LUXE TREND 40
DESIGNING LUXURY - VICTOIRE DE CASTELLANE
Karl Lagerfeld excels at discovering and nurturing young talent. It is a strategy he embraced even before taking the creative reins at Chanel. One of his first hires at Chanel was a young Victoire de Castellane, the niece of Gilles Dufour, KL’s closest assistant. Victoire was tasked with updating the Chanel accessories collections, a lucrative and underdeveloped part of the brand.
KL said this about de Castellane: ''She follows the rules I like best in life,'' he said. ''Don't compare. Don't compete. You look at her. You get the message.''
After 14 years at Chanel, de Castellane became the lead designer of Haute Joaillerie at Dior. Christian Dior had not delved much into the High Jewelry category. In the late 1990s, when de Castellane started the line, Dior was the first Haute Couture house to compete in the lofty domain of esteemed houses like Boucheron and Cartier. For Dior, it was the beginning of a highly creative period, with John Galliano serving as the newly appointed creative director of the house. Galliano’s baroque imagination was well matched with Victoire’s originality and relentless creative curiosity. The success of the collection proved that Dior’s gamble was well placed.
De Castellane’s background makes her an ideal descendant of a creative legacy. Born in an haute bourgeoisie Parisian family with a storied past, de Castellane had creativity informed by a thorough study of the chic beau monde that thrived in Paris in the ‘70s and ‘80s. With access to some of the city’s best parties and clubs, de Castellane observed how the young glitterati lived and entertained.
This keen observation, along with an energetic imagination, has allowed de Castellane to create collections for Dior Haute Joaillerie that are original and highly collectible. While not exactly following the creative direction of the Haute Couture collections, de Castellane has been able to define High Jewelry for a house with a legacy in high luxe, and at the same time, be considered a worthy competitor to High Jewelry brands. The collections are conceived as art pieces, imaginatively named and brilliantly constructed.
Dior Haute Joaillerie collections by de Castellane have been inspired by Versailles, fairies, opals and other precious stones, as well as Christian Dior’s personal history. De Castellane’s jeweled creations often contain her own personal memories.
For Dior et d'Opales, a collection conceived around rare opals, de Castellane amplified the color properties of the stones by combining them with complementary hued gems. For L’Ecrin de Victoire collection, modern interpretations of ancestral jewels, with skulls and cameos culled from a virtual pirate’s booty. Whether using enamel or carved stones, each piece contains a secret code into the fantasy world of the designer, one that is in synchrony with the legacy of the Dior Maison. The jewels almost require the wearer possess a creative imagination that is parallel to their creator. Similar to Joel Rosenthal of JAR, de Castellane’s jewels are of a modern provenance and of an artistic legacy that are difficult to compare to other lines.
In 2011, de Castellane created fine art jewelry collection that was exhibited at Gagosian Gallery in Paris and New York. The pieces were named for imaginary narcotics - de Castellane’s reputation is explicitly drug-free - with names such as L. Es Déliriuma Flash, Quo Caïnus Magic Disco, and Héroïna Romanticam Dolorosa. The collection which was inspired by flowers created jewelry hybrids by disguising functional elements in fantastical narratives. There were elements of sculptor Nikki de St. Phalle in those pieces, a recent creative muse for the new Dior creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri.
De Castellane’s attitude towards creating one-of-a-kind jewelry is best expressed in her own words: “An excess of wealth provided my ancestors with freedom. I just want an excess of freedom in which to create.” W Magazine.