Over the Rainbow

The inspirations behind Hermés creative director for jewellery Pierre Hardy's latest and gorgeously colourful high jewellery collection surprise and delight

- Aun Koh sae

As one might expect on a sunny June afternoon in Paris, the Louvre’s Cour Napoléon was filled with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tourists, many taking selfies while the rest lined up to get glimpses of the priceless works of art within. A small contingent of people stood out from the crowd. They were far better dressed than everyone else there, and they made their way away from IM Pei’s iconic glass pyramid, towards a door at the northwest side of the Place du Carrousel.

Inside, models in elegant resort wear and bearing black clipboards guarded access to a preview of Hermès’s latest high jewellery, designed and presented by Pierre Hardy, creative director of Hermès jewellery. The new collection is titled Les Formes de la Couleur, which means “the shapes of colour”, but can be more accurately expressed, as Hardy told Tatler, along with other select media invited to the preview earlier in June this year, as “the expressions of colour in shapes”.

The advance showing was spread across several artfully darkened galleries. The only light in these rooms came from the exhibition cases set into the walls, within which this new collection of fine jewellery shone stunningly. The effect was hypnotic—and colourful.

After our preview, we were ushered upstairs into a small red‑velvet‑lined room to chat with the creative director about the beautiful collection. Hardy’s journey with Hermès has always been about merging tradition with innovation and Les Formes de la Couleur is no exception. “The 1970s were one of the big inspiration points for this collection,” he shared. “That period was so colourful and rainbows are so emblematic of that time.”