Jewelry designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee put his spin on the idea by ‘swathing the salon’ in red to celebrate his latest high jewelry collection, exclusively available at iconic New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman.
The Kolkata, India-based designer and jeweler, along with Bergdorf's SVP of fashion, Linda Fargo, kicked off New York Fashion Week with a jewelry-themed cocktail that was a sumptuous feast for the eyes.
The store tucked away the other designer jewels in their jewelry salon cases (a very rare move for the retailer) to showcase the approximately 75-piece collection. Sabyasachi's trademark color is red—traditional bridal wear in India is also crimson, incidentally—and the brand deployed the intense hue for the store soiree.
But the high jewelry collection was inspired by a melange of influences: “I’ve been thinking about exoticism—India and the Moulin Rouge, French and Bengal savoir faire, marrying the classic with the outrageous," said Mukherjee. "This is a kaleidoscopic collection with an unexpected whimsy. I've been conjuring tigers, elephants, palms, berries and botanicals...[and thinking about] the precise geometry of watchmaking, the graphic strength of Byzantine mosaics, the symmetry of Mughal gardens challenged by the asymmetry of the modern."
The collection's hero piece, a necktie-style necklace (above), referenced the Byzantine era and Gustav Klimt’s Golden Phase in 18k gold, tourmaline, ruby, sapphire, garnet, kyanite, spinel, and brilliant white diamonds. The designer calls the necklace one of the "most eclectic pieces to date."
Indeed, eclecticism runs deep in this collection. Dagger-style earrings and pendants inspired by those found in Indian Royal houses (made from stones such as tourmaline, garnet, kyanite, morganite, rhodolite, and diamond) make up the Stiletto Suite. The Moulin Rouge necklace, which, boasts 58.40 cts. of pale-yellow sapphire, 69 cts. of tourmaline, various old mine-cut gemstones and diamonds set in 18k gold, borrows techniques from Medieval, Byzantine, Georgian, Victorian, Italian, and Bengal craftsmanship.
"There's always tremendous excitement and anticipation for his work, as the rich and exquisite designs, which he created exclusively for us, are unlike anything most of us have ever seen before," said Fargo. "Sabyasachi once told me that he's a gypsy at heart, by which I like to think he means he's drawn to the exotic, the bohemian, and the far away, which are then layered with tasteful abandon."
