For jewelry aficionados, phrases like “Zip necklace” and “mystery-set stones” should instantly evoke thoughts of one heritage-steeped house: Van Cleef & Arpels. These are just two of the iconic design elements from the legendary brand that opened its first boutique on Paris’s Place Vendôme in 1906. Now a new book takes a comprehensive look at its high-wattage designs, created during the years when everyone from Hollywood icons Carole Lombard and Marlene Dietrich to Wallis Simpson, a.k.a. the Duchess of Windsor, ranked high among the house’s most ardent fans and devoted collectors.
The Van Cleef & Arpels Collection (1906-1953) is an impressive coffee-table book that explores the dazzling designs that emerged from the jeweler in the first half of the 20th century. Almost 700 jewelry and watch images are included alongside 200 archival documents, from 1920s timepieces and bracelets infused with Art Deco styling to early advertisements and mid-century jewels that continue to enjoy high-wattage attention to this day. For proof of the latter, look no further than Margot Robbie wearing a version of the house’s iconic Zip necklace to the 2015 Academy Awards, while at the 2022 Oscars, Caitriona Balfe wore a 1957 diamond necklace that highlights Van Cleef & Arpels’ bow and ribbon motifs. And at December’s Fashion Awards in London, Gwyneth Paltrow paired her crimson Valentino gown and feathered coat with ruby and diamond Van Cleef & Arpels jewels from the 1960s
The 678-page book offers a deep dive into these and other pieces that continue to be sought after, sometimes a full century after their debut. The sapphire and diamond Zip necklace worn by Robbie, for example, takes its cue from a design that got its start in the 1930s, when the ultra-stylish Simpson suggested to then-creative director Renée Puissant the creation of a necklace that both looked and could operate as a zipper might. The technical mastery required for a jewel that could fully function like a zipper took a full 12 years, however, with the first Zip necklace debuting in 1951. (Viewers of the 1930s-set The King’s Speech, which includes actress Eve Best as Simpson, will see that character wearing an all-diamond Van Cleef & Arpels Zip necklace elegantly draped down her back, creating one of the 2010 film’s most stylish — if anachronistic — moments.)
