Christopher Esber will be presenting his work in Paris for the first time during Fashion Week on September 28th. The Australian fashion designer launched his brand in 2010, and enjoys incorporating gemstones into his unstructured, asymmetrical, and intricately cut clothing. In the areas that expose the skin, such as the hip, between the breasts, and on the stomach, he places red jasper, dalmatian quartz, and obsidian. Similar to piercings, these gemstones complete the metal frames that support various parts of dresses, suits, and tops. Beyond aesthetics, Christopher Esber believes in the positive virtues that certain crystals worn directly on the skin possess. Let’s see what he has in store for us for the summer of 2024.

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Over the past 10 years, most designers and jewelers have opted for responsible gold. Some defend mined gold, extracted by local communities which have adopted respectful practices, and bearing labels such as Fairmined, Fairtrade, SMO (Single Mine Origin) for larger-scaled mines, etc. Others advocate recycled gold, metal that’s already been used in jewelry, electronics, ingots, etc. A third approach is to mix the two.

Who’s using what? Recycled or/and mined gold ? In this issue we offer a non-exhaustive overview of pieces heralding these new jewelry values.

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Patrick Schein, the voice of responsibly mined gold

5 things you need to know about the impact of gold mining on nature

Almost two centuries on, four industry insiders (including Marie Berthelon CEO and Sandrine de Laage, Artistic Director) are reviving Léon Rouvenat, who made his mark on jewelry during the Second Empire (cf “The mysterious disappearance of Rouvenat”). Based on two fundamental motifs drawn from the archives (the rosette and the tassel finished to a point), the positive values initiated by Léon Rouvenat are modernized. The twenty-first-century Rouvenat now uses only already extracted gold and precious stones. The emphasis is on digital technology and customization thanks to an exclusive, user-friendly configurator: in the e-shop, customers create their own jewelry by choosing their stone, chain, gold finish, etc. And at each step, you can preview the result. Rouvenat also integrates the blockchain to secure each piece of jewelry. See you from 15 November at “416” (rue Saint Honoré) – a venue with a large glass roof, reminiscent of Leon Rouvenat’s original jewelry factory.

“Les Métiers d’Art” unites the twenty-two art houses and factories bought by Chanel since 1995. Two of them have pooled their expertise: Barrie, famous for its cashmere, and Goossens, known for its antique-style golden couture jewelry. The Goossens medal, stamped with the 12 signs of the zodiac, lies at the center of this ” exchange of signatures”. In the first part of the collection it remains unchanged: only the signs of the zodiac are replaced by Barrie’s signature signs of the thistle, bandana, rose and lion. In the second part, the medal is transformed into a cashmere motif, situated at chest-level on a sleeveless sweater or a pointed scarf. The same pattern is repeated across entire sweaters, waistcoats and miniskirts. A daring move – one that deserves a medal?

The app wasn’t always flooded with ads to the point of nauseating its users, as explained in the fascinating recent Arte documentary Instagram: the vanity fair. In April 2012, when Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram for $1 billion, it had 25 million users and no ads. It still wasn’t turning a profit – in fact it was losing money! Eighteen months later, the day the app passed the 150-million user mark, Mark Zuckerberg imposed advertising to make his purchase profitable. At first, there was only one advertiser and one ad per day! The first to go for it, in November 2013, was Michael Kors promoting a lady’s watch. The brand’s account then gained nearly 34,000 followers in 18 hours. The rest is history…