First of Its Kind, Last of Its Kind tells the story of an exceptional accessory and the archival piece that inspired it.
Jayne Wrightsman epitomized the American dream. Born in Flint, Mich., in 1919 and raised in Los Angeles, where she worked at a department store, she’d later marry the oil magnate Charles Wrightsman, establishing herself in New York society and becoming a patron of the arts and one of the 20th century’s most discerning jewelry collectors. Before her death in 2019, at age 99, she amassed countless treasures, including a 1984 Bulgari necklace made of gold, diamonds and emeralds. Inspired by Surrealism and the work of the Belgian painter René Magritte, the Italian house featured the piece in a campaign called Bulgari Dream, in which strands of tourmalines, citrines, amethysts and peridots, all framed by Bulgari’s logo, shone against a backdrop of blue skies and white clouds.
This past spring, the brand released the new Color Spectrum necklace, designed by Lucia Silvestri, its creative director, and composed of green tourmalines, purple amethysts and other pastel gems. Arranged with the largest jewels at the back, it features two 84-carat, pear-shaped morganite drops set against pavé diamonds that can be removed and worn as earrings. The other gems — citrines and pink rubellites among them — appear in an array of cuts and transparencies, and a clasp system allows the wearer to play with length and style. A cascade of soft rondelles, the necklace is a fluid fantasy — one that can reinvent itself time and again.
Photo assistant: Federico Romano
The post A Bulgari Necklace With a Rainbow of Stones appeared first on New York Times.
