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A Feminine Fancy
December 14, 2006
The catalog for the new House of Leviev jewelry collection just landed on my desk, and I must say, I am impressed!
Most jewelry advertising focuses on the product, not on the lifestyle associated with the product. By contrast, luxury fashion advertising implies that you, too, can be that woman in the ad—if only you had the shoes/bag/dress she’s wearing.
Leviev, however, combines the essence of luxury fashion advertising with outstanding jewelry product photography. The catalog itself is a silver hardcover book with the Leviev “double-L” crest embossed on the front. The endpapers and flyleaves are pink.
Yes, pink. Photos of the new Leviev store at 31 Old Bond Street in London show a shop that’s beautifully and unabashedly—but elegantly—girly. Done up in pink, peach, ivory, and beige, with soft plush couches, gracefully curving chairs, tinkling crystal chandeliers, Venetian-glass mirrors, curlicue molding, and tall vases of pink peonies, it’s a salon designed for the comfort of a woman, albeit clearly a woman of means.
The jewelry collection is photographed by Stefano Galuzzi and modeled by the mother-and-daughter duo of Vanessa, Duchess of Calthorpe, and her daughter, Gabriella Calthorpe. Both, notes uber-diamantaire Lev Leviev in his introduction, epitomize how he sees the Leviev woman: a confident, feminine beauty of any age.
Hats off to Lev, for acknowledging that beauty isn’t only about an 18-year-old airbrushed model or starlet, and that women are the real consumers of jewelry.
Of course, Leviev’s jewels—diamonds, fancy-colored diamonds, and colored gemstones set in 18k or platinum—are not for the minimalist, nor the faint-of-wallet. The masses may find the shop intimidating, but it’s probably just as well, because unlike the famed blue box it’s highly unlikely a Leviev pink box (with its chocolate brown and silver accents) will find its way into the average shopper’s house.
The rest of us will just have to make do with the catalog—a grown-up fairytale book for any big little girl who ever wanted to be a princess. Hey, a girl can still dream, can’t she?
Posted by Hedda Schupak on December 14, 2006 | Comments (0)
