The forthcoming high jewelry collection from Van Cleef & Arpels (VCA) may hail from Paris, but its inspiration is worlds away from the Place Vendôme: Fascinating Egypt is steeped in the “Egyptomania” aesthetic movement of the 1920s that once informed an important chapter of the maison’s design history. The collection is set to make its official debut on July 6 during Paris Haute Couture Week, but VCA has released images of select pieces and an overview of the inspiration that brought them to life.
“For many years, the maison Van Cleef & Arpels, so inspired by Egypt in the 1920s, has wished to prolong the story and present its own vision of this ancient heritage,” Catherine Renier, VCA president and chief executive, stated in the press release.
As is often the case, VCA drew on its rich heritage and robust archive of gouache drawings to guide the design direction of its newest high jewelry creations. With Fascinating Egypt, that influence can be traced back as far as 1909, just a few years after the brand’s founding in 1906, when the Ballets Russes staged a performance of Cleopatra at the Théâtre du Châtelet. With its jewel-toned costumes, elaborate headdresses, and sets evoking an imagined Alexandrian court, it introduced Parisians to an exotic and highly stylized vision of Ancient Egypt.
Then, in 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter made international headlines with his discovery of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Its contents—statues, jewels, and other precious objects—captured the world’s imagination and helped fuel Egyptomania in fashion and decorative arts.
The cultural moment had an immediate influence on the maison. Over the next two years, VCA produced a number of works that reinterpreted ancient Egyptian motifs through structured geometric compositions and sharp color contrasts. Pharaonic figures, papyrus flowers, and scenes of daily life animated bracelets, brooches, necklaces, and watches, rendered in striking combinations of diamonds, cabochon sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and onyx.
At the same time, the art deco era was taking shape, with VCA being among the French jewelers helping to establish its design vocabulary.
A perennial touchstone for VCA, art deco influences often surface in the themes and details of its contemporary collections. As such, Fascinating Egypt includes several pieces that reinterpret the design codes and cultural signals of antiquity through an art deco lens, recalibrating them for contemporary wear.
The Muse éternelle clip is a tribute to Cleopatra, shown in a formal, upright pose draped in robes of gold, diamonds, and gems. Other clips in the series take the form of pharaohs, articulating their power and stature through realistic headwraps and double-crowns.
A trio of clips references archaeological artifacts, their irregular forms and surface treatments evoking hieroglyphic friezes. Each piece—Fragment de bonheur, Fragment magnifique, and Fragment de beauté—is set on a geometric stone base accompanied by gold, diamonds and faceted gemstones.
A group of earrings draws its inspiration from the hieroglyphic symbols associated with the goddess Isis, the Djed pillar that embodies stability, and the deity Bastet in graphic designs with a strong vertical element and a mix of different stone cuts, shapes, and colors.
Given that high jewelry collections tend to influence the direction of broader jewelry trends, a widespread fascination with Egyptomania may soon be on the horizon. Time to get those Cleopatra necklaces out of the vault…
Top: Vénus égyptienne clip in 18k gold with diamonds, turquoise, and lapis lazuli
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