CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Study of necklace created with the Peregrina Pearl; watercolor of Cartier Mansion, 1917 by Alexandre Genaille; photograph from Weber’s Cartier I Love You; chimera bangle (circa 1928); photograph from Weber’s Cartier I Love You; in celebration of 100 years in America, Cartier will be exhibiting one-of-a-kind pieces from its collection, opening with an event honoring Bruce Weber’s Cartier I Love You at the Cartier Mansion; Princess Grace of Monaco; Anne Hathaway in Cartier at the 2008 Oscars.
One hundred years ago, Maison de Cartier brought Gallic glitter and glamour Stateside, opening its fi rst location here in New York. The launch—the first for a French jeweler in the city—certainly made life easier for American millionaires, who had been accustomed to making pilgrimages to its Paris shop. Cartier’s client list could serve as a historical document chronicling wealth and celebrity in the United States: Fabled heiresses Barbara Hutton and Doris Duke were regulars, as were other society names such as Evalyn Walsh McLean, who bought both the 94.80-carat Star of the East and the 45.5-carat Hope Diamond (often wearing both at the same time). Café society was well represented by Cole and Linda Porter, interiordesign socialite Elsie de Wolfe and trendsetters Babe Paley and Daisy Fellowes, while American women of fame and/or fortune who latched onto European royals, such as Nancy Leeds, Wallis Simpson, Grace Kelly and Mona Bismarck, were also fans.
Hollywood royalty included the likes of Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Fred Astaire and Gloria Swanson (Swanson’s trinkets may have been supplied by her longtime “friend” Joseph Kennedy, whose daughter-in-law Jackie was, of course, also a Cartier client). In 1926, when Rudolph Valentino appeared in The Son of the Sheik wearing a Cartier Tank watch, the house established its presence on the silver screen. Today the Cartier-Hollywood connection is still going strong—particularly at Oscar time, when the contents of the jeweler’s archives sparkle on the necks, wrists and ears of the latest crop of star celebrities, from Anne Hathaway and Jessica Alba to Renée Zellweger and Rachel Weisz.
With this kind of history, Cartier certainly has cause to celebrate. In addition to a huge star-studded gala in April at the Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue hosted by New York notables like Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Martin Scorsese and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the house released Cartier I Love You, a lavish coffee-table book with Bruce Weber photographs of magnifi cent jewels—both archived and privately owned. In the boutiques themselves, a special centennial collection includes new versions of Cartier classics, such as Tank Américaine watches with centennial logo dials and the Ballon Bleu timepiece with an engraved eagle dial. A longtime favorite is reprised in the newly restyled $13,100 Trinity ring, twinkling with 100 tiny diamond stars. That other historically coveted Cartier piece, the Love bracelet, also makes a special centennial appearance dressed in glitter. The screws have been replaced with diamonds, while the gold band is pavéed in stones. To see the storied company’s entire commemorative collection, be sure to stop by the Cartier Mansion.
