For over forty years, Cartier’s Panthère watch has been sported by celebrities including Zendaya, Dua Lipa, Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna. Now the iconic timepiece has provided some new hair inspiration for Amal Clooney. Read more about it below.
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The woman behind Cartier’s signature ‘Panthère’ designs, Jeanne Toussaint, inspired generations of women with her sculptural jewellery motifs.
The pioneering creative, herself nicknamed ‘La Panthère’, worked as Cartier’s Artistic Director of Jewellery from the 1930s until the 1970s, and revolutionised the house’s designs with her daring combinations of coloured gemstones and voluminous jewellery motifs which set the tone for Cartier’s style for decades. Amongst the best known of these is her panther, which she popularised as a lithe, three-dimensional feline perched on top of impressive cabochon gemstones for clients like the Duchess of Windsor.
In 1983, the sensual movements of Cartier’s signature big cat inspired the slinky, fluid-like mesh bracelet of a new women’s wristwatch, dubbed the Panthère, which quickly became a fashionable must-have and was sported by high-profile trendsetters such as Madonna, Princess Diana and Gwyneth Paltrow. Discontinued in 2004, the timepiece was resurrected in 2017 and its signature square dial and flexible gold bracelet quickly found favour amongst a new coterie of fashionable stars, including Zendaya and Dua Lipa, who was recently announced as the new face of Bvlgari (see the story here).
Now, Cartier’s Panthère watch has provided some unusual inspiration for Amal Clooney, who has just debuted a fresh hairstyle that nods to its namesake creature.
Appearing in Milan recently for Cartier’s Women’s Initiative – an events programme that bolsters female entrepreneurship and provides “financial, social and human capital support to grow their businesses and build their leadership skills” – the human rights lawyer showed off a glossy new hair colour with rich, caramel-hued highlights.
“I wanted to subtly change Amal’s hair colour and length! La Panthère highlights are bold but at the same time look effortless and very elegant,” posted her longtime hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos, referring to the golden-brown tones he added to her hair that mirror those of a leopard’s coat. In French culture, the term ‘panthère’ can be used to describe both the spotted leopard and the black-coated panther, both enduring symbols of ferocity, elegance and powerful femininity.
Mme. Toussaint surely would have been pleased that, all these decades later, her emblematic panthère is still inspiring fabulous women the world over.
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