Joyful Universe: The Bewitching Dior Milly Dentelle High Jewellery Collection

Victoire de Castellane is back with another high jewellery story inspired by the life and loves of Monsieur Christian Dior, translated directly from the brand’s remarkable archives. This time, we are presented with Dior Milly Dentelle, a colourful homage to the couturier’s home in Milly-la-Forêt, which is described as a “dreamlike landscape dappled with a profusion of flowers, foliage with asymmetrical curves and flamboyant groves”. During the initial presentation of the collection at Paris Haute Couture Week in January, our eyes were immediately drawn to Mozambique rubies and a fairytale necklace with cloud-like blossoms of white pearls and diamonds. Although it’s safe to say there’s plenty to capture attention in this 76-piece offering… let’s take a closer look. 

Abundance is the first word that springs to mind when considering the Dior Milly Dentelle High Jewellery collection. This isn’t just an abundance of colourful gemstones but also an overwhelming number of details, ideas, combinations, shapes and silhouettes that combine to create a beautiful selection of jewels. The thread that links all these pieces together is a kind of floral femininity – part of a joyful, uplifting universe – in which the only rules are to enjoy the radiance of rubies, sapphires, pearls, opals, emeralds and tsavorites set in pieces that are designed to elicit a smile. 

Among the 76 creations, there are pieces in white, yellow and pink gold, some with delicate lace-like openwork structures, others with roses, cloudy skies, and entire woodland scenes. Across all the designs, there is a sense of lightness and airiness so that despite the carat weights of leading gems, the pieces still appear whimsical and delicate. This is especially noticeable in chokers and collar necklaces, which leave plenty of space for skin to show through. Overall, the brand describes its approach as a “homage to the magic of the infinitely meticulous, combined with the splendour of the plant world, so dear to the House of Dior”. 

The gold mesh and lacework within the collection are reminiscent of couture clothing, thus continuing Victoire De Castellane’s long fascination with ‘fashion through the lens of jewellery’. We also see plenty of colourful gradients in this new offering, including pieces with a full spectrum of colours and shades that radiate outwards from large, eye-catching centre stones. Much like the Dior Joaillerie Les Jardins de la Couture (Couture Gardens) High Jewellery collection from 2023, there are pieces in Milly Dentelle that feature naïve outlines of landscapes – almost as if a child has drawn the utopian ideal of rolling hills and blooming flower beds. These landscapes reveal flowers, clouds, leaves and fruit trees, immortalised in both yellow and white gold, in exclusively asymmetrical layouts. This is especially notable in earrings but is evident in rings, necklaces and pendants, too. 

Despite this leaning towards riotous colour, one of the key necklaces from the collection is composed of round brilliant-cut and pear-shaped diamond flowers that sparkle around white pearls. These bloom alongside marquise-cut diamond flowers, more pearls, and the occasional hint of yellow gemstones in 18k rose gold, leading the eye to a large pear-shaped diamond solitaire that’s lined in a halo of creamy pearls. The set to which this necklace belongs was made at the Maison’s 30 Avenue Montaigne High Jewellery workshop, taking more than 2,500 hours to complete. What was especially interesting during Paris Haute Couture Week was hearing the Dior team refer to these arrangements of pearls as ‘micro-pearls’ and describe them as a tool for creating contrast. One of Victoire de Castellane’s signatures is using coloured lacquer to add this kind of dimension, so it is exciting to see this new creative avenue emerging. 

Another necklace - Manege Fleuri - follows in the footsteps of the playful Diorama & Diorigami High Jewellery collection from 2024. This time, rather than cartoon-like animals achieved in carved gems, we see doodle-like arrangements of flowers and leaves on a pencil-thin rose gold framework. At its centre, there’s a large emerald bordered by diamonds and pear-shaped pink sapphires. Dior Milly Dentelle also incorporates some impressive solitaires, including a 7.09-carat sapphire, a 5.45-carat Mozambique ruby and a 9.88-carat Paraiba tourmaline. Personally, I am drawn to the precious opals in this collection, especially two long pendant necklaces that frame each cabochon with diamonds or perfectly chaotic blends of tsavorites, sapphires and turquoises. 

Many of Victoire de Castellane’s signatures are evident in this collection, including the use of precious opals, chromatic borders or ‘frames’ of colour (this time achieved with gemstones rather than lacquer), and chokers that tell a story from left to right, almost like a polyptych. Often, chokers are thought of as restrictive and uncomfortable, which is why their methods of construction, lightness, flexibility and suppleness must be meticulously considered. My favourite in this collection is a sunny garden scene, centred around a cushion-shaped yellow diamond, with ruby-set fruit trees, marquise-shaped yellow sapphire flowers, pink flowers and tsavorite leaves. However, there’s no denying the mineral intensity of a pair of chokers – one with a large ruby cabochon and the other a sapphire cabochon – alongside mother-of-pearl butterflies, pearls, marquise-shaped coloured stones and fancy-cut diamonds. 

The new Dior Milly Dentelle collection really manages to capture so many emotions that are missing in the world right now, namely whimsy, optimism, and joyfulness. Colour is used so expressively that it’s easy to forget just how much artisanal precision is required to form those ultra-fine, lace-like precious metal frames and micro-pearl borders. Trust us when we say these pieces are even more tempting in real life.