The Tamesis
The relationship between Dior and La Serenissima runs deep. Back in Christian Dior’s heyday, the fashion designer and Salvador Dali created lavish costumes for Charles de Bestegui’s legendary balls at his palace, Palazzo Labia. “It was the most wonderful spectacle I had ever seen or hoped to see,” Dior wrote in his memoirs. “Parties like this are true works of art.”
Today, the brand’s relationship with Venice is as tight as the city’s canals. Earlier this month, the Biennale’s official opening coincided with the Casino Royale Ball at the Palazzo del Casinò, a Dior-backed fundraising event to restore the Ca’ d’Oro palace, a jewel of Venetian Gothic architecture.
Casinos were open again on Tuesday night Diorisimahigh jewelry tribute to Venice and art, courtesy of Victoire de Castellane. Upstairs in the grand Art Deco building, vintage glamorous lounges and torch singers set the tone, while in the dining room, the concept is underlined by lavish table settings by Dior Maison artistic director Cordelia de Castellane, towering arrangements embellished with Murano glass daffodils, plus gilded china and linens printed with playing card sets. Guests from around the world, many dressed head-to-toe in Dior, took turns snapping selfies as the sun set over the Adriatic Sea.
But it wasn’t until after a dinner orchestrated by Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco that Dior Joaillerie’s artistic director came into play. The show features a custom gaming room with fully staffed poker, blackjack, roulette and craps tables, showcasing rich colors and unexpected pairings. Some 112 jewels adorned the 20 haute couture looks designed by Jonathan Anderson for the occasion: sculptural bustier skirts made from masses of gathered velvet, paired with jewels such as an ombre pink wisteria necklace set with 4,100 diamonds, rubies, sapphires and spinels. An elegant beige silk crepe evening gown is paired with a sunburst fringed necklace called the Voie Lactée, set with a 7.03-carat cushion-cut solitaire and more than 3,000 diamonds.
Castellana’s whimsical flora, fauna, sun, moon and stars are all featured, but some works have a particularly personal touch. In her spare time, when she’s not busy crafting design models by hand in her studio on Avenue Montaigne, Castellana is an artist in her own right. Here, she incorporates this aspect of her creative life by painting upon classic gemstones and cuts, such as the nearly six-carat pink oval sapphire from Madagascar or the over 10-carat royal blue sapphire from Myanmar, contrasting them with mother-of-pearl and other decorative gemstones. Lacquer, now a signature elasticity, allows her to tailor the palette to stunning effects.
Borrowing the double-layer technique used in last year’s Diorexquis collection, Castellane doubled down on the collage effect on the Diorissima Lucky Flowers necklace, working thin layers of chrysoprase, aventurine, turquoise, chalcedony and opal into clover-shaped leaves, topped with 178 pear-shaped diamonds. Elsewhere, a diamond-encrusted coral reef pattern is outlined by ultra-fine white gold curves painted in tropical blue. Partly a nod to the artists Mr. Dior admired (among them Matisse, Man Ray and Picasso), it also reads like an extension of Castellana’s artistic style.
