If you're a bit of a magpie like me, you'll know how easy all that glitters is on the eyes. Imagine the shiniest tiara you can. Now picture a display cabinet of them, lit up in the dark and slowly revolving so that each diadem spins and catches the light. Expand your vision of the perfect treasure trove to a haul that can fill a whole building - and not just any building but the huge Grand Palais. Now you have some kind of idea of the appeal of the Cartier Exhibition I went to last Wednesday!
The exhibition closed yesterday, which might have been part of the reason for the outrageous queues snaking in front of the building when I went just a week from the closing date. However, I've been told that the exhibition has been as popular from day one. We had to queue for two hours and were only let in about 50 minutes from closing time. Although it's too late to visit now, you can relive the sights and sparkles through the photos taken on my trusty iPhone (sorry for the quality!).
Aside from the tiaras, my favourite thing was to see how the fashion of jewellery evolved over time...you can really see the geometric, unapologetic influence of the 20s, the Art Deco movement, and the most beautifully inspired flashes of carnivalesque colour, inspired by Colonial India.
These time-pieces were also really beautifully made - and apparently took 8 years of innovation and design to perfect the 'mystery': how the hands could rotate without any visible mechanics or dials. Apparently the trick is to do with rotating glass disks inside the clock into which the hands are inlaid. Clever!
There were also displays with information on some of Cartier's most famous customers, notably Grace Kelly, Wallis Simpson, Elizabeth Taylor, and HRH Elizabeth II. One thing I'd have liked to learn more about was Louis-François Cartier as a man, and the company's personality as it has grown over the years. What information there was was printed white on black in large chunks of small text. In a dimly lit room, no one stopped to take in anything other than most eye-catching jewels.
Even if the exhibition has closed, I hope you enjoyed this internet tour!
À Bientôt !
x
