The mastery of seemingly easy gestures typically requires prodigious method. Twentieth-century couturier Germaine Krebs, higher referred to as Madame Grès, knew as a lot. Her most recognizable work, sculptural goddess robes that seemed sure for Mount Olympus, had a simple mien that belied the intricate draping, hand-pleating, and a whole lot of hours of labor they may entail.

It was Krebs’s work from the Nineteen Fifties that Van Cleef & Arpels turned to, alongside archival Nineties designs of its personal, as some extent of departure for the Draperie Mystérieuse clip, one in every of 25 items from the Legend of Diamonds high-jewelry assortment. A collage of diamonds, treasured gems, and white gold mimics the form of cascading material, culminating in a graduated fringe of three pear-shape diamonds. A part of the cache reduce from the Lesotho Legend, a 910-carat tough, the trio of stones is freed from inclusions and reveals outstanding brilliance.

Rows of emeralds and sapphires are positioned utilizing the Thriller Set method, which secures stones aspect by aspect sans prongs or different obvious assist, a Van Cleef signature patented by the maison in 1933. On this case, its execution is made tougher as lengths of those jewels adhere to a twisting, torquing aircraft relatively than a flat one. Valuable pleats? Please.

This story initially appeared within the October 2022 problem of ELLE DECOR. SUBSCRIBE