Lucky Charms: Van Cleef & Arpels Will Celebrate One of Its Most Iconic Collections In KSA This Autumn
The Alhambra collection will be on display in Riyadh from October 14-23
“To be lucky,” Jacques Arpels once said, “you have to believe in luck.”
The nephew of the founding couple and avid collector would often pick four-leaf clovers in his back yard, offering them to his employees as good luck charms. Luck has been a perennial guiding light for Van Cleef & Arpels, inspiring some of its most iconic creations; lucky charms, wooden talismans, and benevolent fairies, the theme had already drifted in and out of collections since the 1920’s, long before the clover made its first appearance in 1968 and settled indefinitely in the Van Cleef and Arpels realm.
The Alhambra collection is reflective of key features of the sixties, including non-conformism and women’s liberation which brought a new influence on jewellery; playful pieces that could be worn every day started to be in vogue. It has taken on a broad palette of natural materials and adopted a variety of symbols, colours and different-sized motifs. The stylised clover is a Byzantine-inspired quatrefoil.
The ornamental pattern can be found within some of the azulejos ceramics at the Alhambra in Grenada, Spain. Or maybe its mystery lies within the verses of Victor Hugo’s Les Orientales, in which the French author and poet described the Moorish architecture of the Alhambra palace and the white clovers reflected on the walls. Through the ages, the Alhambra collection has become a genuine icon of jewellery, constantly renewing itself over time with six collections: Vintage, Magic, Sweet, Lucky, Pure, and Byzantine Alhambra. Bonne chance and the Middle East blend into one perfectly formed emblem which continues to define the Maison.
In Riyadh, KSA this October, more than 50 years after the creation of the first Alhambra long necklace, the Maison is presenting both patrimonial and contemporary Alhambra creations in a display that celebrates the emblematic lucky motif in materials teeming with life.