Feeling brave: Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton has celebrated its big bicentenary birthday with a new High Jewellery collection inspired by powerful heritage: it’s called Bravery.

“I was surprised that a fashion house like Louis Vuitton was created through the sheer courage of one young man,” said Francesca Amfitheatrof, Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director for Watches and Jewellery of the inspiration.

Featuring 90 significant designs, all of which celebrate or represent specific moments in the extraordinary history of the iconic brand, this is the third collection designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof and took three years of development: to source the sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds, as well as other gemstones, for the pieces.

A presentation, held in Monaco, included a host of starry guests and Louis Vuitton ambassadors, including Alicia Vikander, who wore the La Star du Nord set, a necklace featuring a Louis Vuitton signature, a monogram flower with 10,07 carats and flawless D I F diamond.

“Driven by his curiosity about the world, he embarked on that incredible journey across France. That’s why we have named this collection Bravery,” continued Amfitheatrof. “It’s not a word often used in High Jewellery! Yet these notions of determination and adventure are intrinsic to Louis Vuitton, and we wanted to express them through this collection.”

A tribute to the birth of Louis on 4 August 1821 comes by way of La Constellation d’Hercule, a necklace whose unique pairing of 209 carats of tanzanites with 50 carats of Australian opals and nearly 34 carats of tsavorites is spectacular.

Meanwhile, invented in 1890 by Louis Vuitton, this is the first time that the unpickable Tumbler lock, a patented lock mechanism, has inspired a High Jewellery piece. Here it is adorned with a Santa Maria-type cerulean aquamarine weighing over 24 carats, the Tumbler worked as a diamond-set clasp, which is positioned elegantly off-centre on a multicoloured necklace.