LOUIS VUITTON

Louis Vuitton harked back to Victorian elegance with Dentelle d'hiver, the latest addition to its Voyage dans le Temps high jewellery collection.

The delicate line, designed by Louis Vuitton's artistic director of fine jewellery Lorenz Baumer, celebrates the timeless beauty of diamonds, with classical shapes reminiscent of the Belle Epoque, the golden era of France in the late 19th century.

"These pieces are meant to be instantly recognisable and to make a statement," said Mr Hamdi Chatti, vice-president of fine jewellery and watches at Louis Vuitton.

Enter the star of the collection: a necklace featuring 953 diamonds set into monogram motifs on a meshwork of fine metal strands so that some of the stones appear to float.

An evolution of last season's dainty Peter Pan collar necklace, this one comes with a detachable 2.58-carat flower-cut diamond pendant.

Chandelier earrings, openwork rings and bracelets with fine strands complete the 10-piece collection.

Mr Chatti noted: "We want the jewellery to become a second skin, like our ready-to-wear."

WILFREDO ROSADO

In his third collection, which he showed for the first time during Paris couture week, Wilfredo Rosado is continuing his mission to put the fun into fine jewellery.

For this line-up, the New York-based designer offered two very distinct looks.

One set features leather flowers made by Maison Lemarie - manufacturer of Chanel's famous camellias - surrounded and centred by diamonds (above). The stone at the heart of each blossom can be unscrewed and replaced with different-coloured leather petals - white, yellow, black or any other hue which can be made to order.

There is also a necklace, tiara-style headband, cuff, earrings, brooch and large ring, all using the same flower motifs.

Rosado's second series, both angular and imposing, is made up of emeralds and diamonds set in black rhodium gold mesh.

BOUCHERON

Boucheron is celebrating the Chinese zodiac Year of the Snake with a collection inspired by the serpent, a mascot for the house ever since founder Frederic Boucheron gave his wife Gabrielle a serpent necklace as a token of love and protection.

The Serpent Boheme line comprises some 20pieces, including rings, bracelets, pendants, necklaces, earrings and watches in white or yellow gold.

The rings are lifted from the first Serpent collection launched by the Place Vendome jeweller in 1968. Topped with a teardrop-shaped head, they are paved with diamonds in a grain setting and surrounded by gold beads. In addition to the original medium-sized version, these rings were designed in small - with two heads, to be worn together or separately - and large, with a single head.

For the necklaces, Boucheron scaled down its signature twisted chain to a fine diameter. The pieces come with a teardrop pendant and jewelled safety pin-clasp, which can be removed and used to wear the pendant as a brooch.

CHANEL

For its new high jewellery collection, Chanel looked to one of the most enduring symbols of the house: the camellia flower, prized by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel for its perfect symmetry and lack of scent.

The 99-piece Jardin de Camelias line is Chanel's first to be dedicated entirely to the bloom. It not only includes diamond dazzlers and black-and-white variations, but also pieces set with a rainbow range of coloured stones, including opals, multicoloured sapphires, rubellites, mandarin garnets and tourmalines.

"We wanted to bring some colour to this floral world," said MrBenjamin Comar, international director of Chanel Fine Jewelry. "It was important to rework the camellia, which is a strong symbol for us, but to do it in a different way than in the past."

The piece de resistance is the Camelia Exquis necklace, featuring a blinding array of diamonds in myriad cuts.

Equally impressive are the collection's bold rings, which have gained in volume and diameter since the house launched its signature diamond camellia ring in 1993.

On some of the new stunners, diamond-encrusted petals were worked in 3-D relief, while the Camelia Solaire incorporated delicately embossed yellow gold.

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