Playful and refined, the Perlée jewellery collection by Van Cleef & Arpels ensures a glittering summer reflected in beads of white and pink gold. It is an ode to elegance and modernity that reflects the Maison’s sensibility of contemporary jewellery and will be available instore from 30th August 2010.  Graphic and fun with a fundamental simplicity that provides allure and class, the Perlée collection by Van Cleef & Arpels features strands of tiny golden beads, and is imbued with the legacy of Van Cleef & Arpels’ expertise, and the aesthetics inspired by the Maison’s heritage. TM

Place Vendôme, Paris, 1968. While the streets of the capital roared with student rebellion, Van Cleef & Arpels launched Alhambra, a jewellery collection characterised by stylised clover-leaf constellations of precious hard stones encircled with borders of golden beads. Inspired by a fine jewellery technique, this extremely sophisticated detail first appeared in the 1920s to enhance the radiance of gems. Baptised the contour perlé (or pearled edge), it became a key factor in the resounding success of the Alhambra range. This same playful spirit then found a new expression in the Perlée collection, a range imbued with youthfulness, modernity and freedom. The historic pearled border, braided onto a ribbon of gold, unfurls to create rings and bracelets, enjoying a newfound youth.

The modernity of the pure designs, without excess or artifice, shines forth. The range plays with strings of golden beads transformed into slim contemporary rings and bracelets. It offers a mixture of assorted hues of white or pink gold, to wear stacked one by one, in summer and winter, adorning the skin with dazzling radiance. It extends an invitation to play with infinite joyful combinations, reflecting elegant sobriety or a dash of fashion folly according to one’s mood and desires.

The Perlée collection brims with sophisticated jewellery, refined variations and cult reinterpretations. Such is the signature of the pearled border, an adornment that highlights a woman’s allure time and time again…

Simplicity is the most perfect, but often the most complex, of sophistications. If certain rings from the Perlée collection reflect impeccable symmetry and regularity, others indulge a flowing stream of pearls that increase then decrease in size around the band. The aesthetics are playful and the rhythm, unexpected, paving the way for a ring with five rows of beads. This addictive piece of jewellery that becomes a self-appointed talisman for the modern man, can also be combined with a ribbon bracelet. With the Perlée collection, masculine jewellery could unveil a new streamlined and utterly self-confident side.

The polished beads are also transformed into precious braids of matt or satin-brushed ribbons. Wound into rings, the Perlée collection exhibits various details: a refined engraving of the Van Cleef & Arpels name in italic cursive script, Alhambra motifs set with round diamonds, or captivating circles paved entirely with diamonds using an exclusive setting technique, which enables three different sizes of round diamonds to be incorporated.

Offering a refreshing change in tone, the Bangle bracelet has also become part of the Perlée collection. Rigid whether open or closed, it is radiant when multiplied on the wrist and invites playful combinations of white or pink gold. Just like the rings, it is adorned with a line of brightly polished beads. In another version featuring a gold ribbon hemmed with a pearled border, the Bangle offers four different facets for the eye to admire: an engraving of the famous Van Cleef & Arpels hallmark, the highly characteristic calligraphy of the Maison’s name, an Alhambra motif with diamonds and, like the matching rings, the same unique and surprising paving of diamonds.

In 1970, Van Cleef & Arpels created a limited edition of necklaces, cuff bracelets and hoop earrings in hammered yellow gold that were immediately adopted by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Inspired by the Etruscan civilisation, its draped fabrics and wonderful mastery of metalworking techniques, they have been reinterpreted today by the Perlée cuff bracelet in crumpled pink gold, whose irregular appearance belies a high degree of technical precision. It delicately embraces the arm just above the wrist to enhance the gracefulness of any gesture or movement of the hand.

From the same period, elliptical hoop earrings set with drops of precious metal and hemmed with the contour perlé have been reinvented this season, retaining only a delicate row of golden beads. Three different sizes reflect the moods of the moment, while two colours of gold enhance the complexion perfectly and attract the eye to the poised bearing of a woman’s head. Creative and mischievous, these hoop earrings are joined by models featuring an array of elusive beads: like the rings, the dimensions of the golden beads shrink and expand to create a wonderful optical illusion.

Light, charming and spirited, the new Perlée collection epitomises a modern but timeless elegance, which is the hallmark of the Van Cleef & Arpels philosophy.

PERLEE is a registered trademark of Van Cleef & Arpels.