The venerable jewelry maison, caterer to kings and emperors, used an unlikely museum to debut its new Chaumet est une fête collection.
Last Sunday, at dusk, a few hundred elegantly dressed revelers gathered at the Place Vendôme with no other instruction on their elegantly embossed invitations than to be prepared to be dazzled.
“Dazzling” a sophisticated crowd of luxury connoisseurs and patrons on the eve of Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris is a feat of staggering difficulty. Still, Chaumet, the historic jewelry house with over two centuries of catering to French kings and emperors, is well versed in the art of staging extraordinary moments—and creating the jewels to mark such occasions.
As the sun began to set on the horizon behind a scintillating Eiffel Tower, the invited celebrities, friends of Chaumet, journalists, and other chosen few were steered onto hired vintage buses for a journey back in time. The destination remained secret even as the buses came to a halt before the Musée des Arts Forains, a venue that struck many as implausible.
In a Nod to Hemingway’s Paris, Chaumet Unveils New Jewels With an Air of Glamorous Seduction