THE PERFECTION OF PEARLS

Discover how fashion's greatest impresarios are giving these emblems of embellishment a makeover.

- DUHIN GANJU

Natasha Poonawalla in Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla In the early 1920s, the iconic Coco Chanel created a fashion revolution when she transformed the little black dress—the uniform of the working class—into a status symbol of liberation by draping it with strings of freshwater pearls, like dripping fronds of a wisteria. Chanel’s signature pearl necklaces became synonymous with the pleasures of casual chic and timeless style, making the adornments accessible to a broader range of women. Even today, you can see designers across the world use these micro-mini totems of desire in their deft-cutting creations.

Case in point: Giorgio Armani’s fall 2024 haute couture show featured swallows of pearls embellished on bias-cut velvet gowns and pearl-beaded, art-deco columns with stand-away collars. For Balmain’s spring 2019 couture show, designer Olivier Rousteing crafted bulbous leather pearls to encircle a model’s thighs and shoulders; he made jutting hip buttresses that stuck out from the side under enormous pearl-embellished pink bows, shredded denim to its inner skeleton, and then embroidered it with crystals and pearls.

But how did these emblems of embellishments cause a ripple effect in the fashion industry?

The history of pearls can be traced all the way back to the ancient Egyptian civilisation, when both Cleopatra and Nefertiti wore pearl jewellery as a symbol of wealth and beauty. During the Mughal rule in India in the early 16th century, pearls reached new heights of fashion and luxury, as they were used extensively in royal jewellery, clothing and ceremonial regalia.

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