Cover Van Cleef & Arpels first introduced ballerinas to their collections in the 1940s, and they’ve become an icon of the maison since
Van Cleef & Arpels first introduced ballerinas to their collections in the 1940s, and they’ve become an icon of the maison since
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Van Cleef & Arpels has unveiled 12 beautiful new ballerina creations, drawing inspiration from the classical ballets everyone knows and loves
“Dancing is music made visible,” George Balanchine once famously said. It simply doesn’t get more visible than this—immortalised in gold and gems by Van Cleef & Arpels’ craftsmen. The maison’s fascination with ballet first found form in 1941, and Van Cleef & Arpels ballerinas have been enchanting the world ever since. This year, the maison has revealed 12 new ballerina creations, each a tribute to different classic ballets.
As always, the pieces are first hand-sculpted from green wax, an essential step for the jewellers to be able to capture the movements of the ballerinas’ bodies, as well as the unique flow of fabric. This wax model is then cast, the wax burned out and the gold form takes shape, before being polished and set by hand.
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Fée Dragée ballerina clip
Above Van Cleef & Arpels Fée Dragée ballerina clip
Van Cleef & Arpels Fée Dragée ballerina clip
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The Sugar Plum Fairy is an icon of ballet culture. Audiences first met her in 1892 in the first performance of The Nutcracker, in which young Masha dreams that her toys have come to life. The Sugar Plum Fairy presides over the land of sweets, in a fantastical dress composed by the maison in polished white and yellow gold, detailed with pink sapphires, spessartite garnets and diamonds across her scalloped skirts.
Castilla ballerina clip
Above Van Cleef & Arpels Castilla ballerina clip
Van Cleef & Arpels Castilla ballerina clip
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Castilla’s posture in this clip represents the subtle but significant shift that Van Cleef and Arpels’ ballerinas have made over the decades. Where older pieces might have held more formal, demure poses, the ballerinas of recent years are bolder and more dynamic, showcasing a wider range of movement and jewellery skill. Castilla is drawn from Rudolf Nureyev’s ballet Don Quichotte, and apart from her pose is also adorned with a huge amount of detail. Her sleeves are made up of gold threads, while her skirts are festooned with sapphires and diamonds.
Cléopâtre ballerina clip
Above Van Cleef & Arpels Cléopâtre ballerina clip
Van Cleef & Arpels Cléopâtre ballerina clip
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The title heroine of Jules Massenet’s opera Cléopâtre cuts a fascinating figure—her hair is topped with an extravagant pear-shaped stone-topped headdress and she wears a bib necklace, arm bracelets and loincloth, all meticulously detailed in gold and gems. Cléopâtre is richly embellished: emeralds, rubies, sapphire, spessartite garnets, blue tourmalines, black spinels, lapis lazuli, turquoise, onyx and diamonds feature across her costume.
Danse de Séville ballerina clip
Above Van Cleef & Arpels Danse de Séville ballerina clip
Van Cleef & Arpels Danse de Séville ballerina clip
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Flamenco comes to shimmering life in the maison’s depiction of the young Carmen, from Georges Bizet’s opera of the same name. The movement of her flounced, tiered skirts here is rendered in white and yellow gold, echoing the style of flamenco dresses and catching the light with diamonds, while her pink sapphire-detailed headdress captures the spirited movement of her head.
