I’m back in LA after traveling to NYC just to attend Tiffany’s reopening party on Thursday night.
My first clue that I was headed for one Helva Shindig was last Tuesday when my family returned from a weekend visit to Mexico City and found a delivery van parked in the driveway. The driver, who was told to come after midnight, was fast asleep in the front seat.
After I woke him up, he grabbed Tiffany’s unmistakable robin-egg-hued bag from the passenger seat. “You must be a very important person,” he handed it to me.
Inside, a personalized invitation spelled out the details: Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, Tiffany’s parent company (and, according to the richest man in the world, forbes) had invited me to celebrate the reopening of Landmark, its flagship store in New York City on Fifth and 57th Avenues. It was broken.
When I arrived at the Landmark, a crowd of onlookers were shoved across the street into a barricade, probably squinting to see if I was human. Severalbody.
We went through the revolving door under the Atlas statue clock right behind Paloma Picasso. Paloma Picasso is a Tiffany collaborator whose designs are on display in a dedicated display on the second floor. She stopped near the entrance long enough to admire her silk kimono printed with a Japanese-style tableau of birds perched on cherry blossom branches. It’s easy to imagine that even the daughter of the 20th century’s most acclaimed artist was stunned by the opulence of her first floor, also known as “Tiffany’s World.”
With over 100,000 square feet of interior refurbishment over the course of nearly four years, the store has the potential to become one of the world’s most glamorous jewelery halls of fame. JCKMore News director Rob Bates unveiled the brand’s first ‘whole picture’ since 1940, including a digitized immersive installation, 4,090 light fixtures and 40 artworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Julien and more. You did a great job summarizing the details of the ‘renovation’. Schnabel, Daniel Arsham.
On the other hand, here I scene.
and, scene, I’m not talking about the more than 80 celebrities in attendance, but the spotting of famous faces was certainly epic. Jacobs, Martha Needs No Introduction Stewart, and dozens of actors and musicians including Gal Gadot, Hailey Bieber, Pharrell, and Anya Taylor-Joy attended as guests. , Florence Pugh, Zoe Kravitz, Blake Lively, Mark Wahlberg, Tiffany Haddish.
One of the first guests that caught my eye was a beautifully put together Asian woman dressed all in white. I couldn’t ignore the Tiffany Blue Nautilus. (When announced in December 2021, the limited-edition watch he sold for $52,635. Current secondary market value is around $3 million.)
Turning to the opulence of the room, I spotted Michael J. Kowalski, Tiffany’s beloved former CEO from 1999 to 2015. When he was posing for a photo with his current CEO, Anthony, his Reddle, he couldn’t help but stare. But what did Kowalski make out of the new (and improved?) Tiffany?
When I interviewed Ledru over a video call last November, new york times Speaking about the growth of the branded jewelery sector, he was candid, gracious, and undeniably clear about the brand’s repositioning under LVMH, which acquired Tiffany for $16 billion in early 2021.
“We’ve been focused on leveling up our product this year,” Redl told me. “One of the reasons we’re growing so fast is that he’s made his jewelry pretty big.”
“When we completed the acquisition, we had no idea that in 2022, Tiffany’s high jewelery business would be on par with its silver business,” Ledru said. “Since the acquisition, we have quintupled our High Jewelery activity, and the focus has been on Jean Schlumberger, the designer who joined Tiffany in the 60s. He is a bridge between the old world and the new. Tiffany It’s the ultimate symbol of what stands for.I think that’s our style.”
When the designer’s iconic Bird on a Rock brooch comes to mind, you’re in for it. According to Ledru, this piece is at the heart of Tiffany’s high jewelry ambitions.
“The growth we are enjoying is incredible,” he said, referring to brooch sales. was mounted only on
“Why wouldn’t you want that in a truly superior stone?” added Ledl. “This year we did it. We have it in sapphire, very large morganite. I have.”
As we roamed the floors of the reimagined Landmark, the focus was evident on the high-end clientele.Starting on the 7th floor, home to the Patek Philippe Salon, the 7.91 ct $1.95 million Bird on a Rock We have a wide selection of Tiffany “masterpieces” including brooches. An oil-free Colombian emerald and his $1.45 million diamond necklace centered at 14.42 ct. An oval Paraiba tourmaline from Brazil — we descended a curving staircase to the themed floors below.
In addition to lifestyle and homewares, the Blue Box Café occupies the sixth floor. Here we found gorgeous ping pong rackets, cushions and plates all decked out in Tiffany Blue. Windows designed by Jean Moore, former artistic director of Tiffany & Co.
The silver design occupies Level 5 and features a replica of the black Givenchy dress from Audrey Hepburn’s opening scene alongside the small but fun ‘Audrey Experience’. breakfast at tiffany’s(Speaking of Givenchy, which was acquired by LVMH in 1988, all of the Tiffany salespeople are dressed in custom black Givenchy outfits, down to the glossy black loafers, with the blue Tiffany logo embroidered on them. )
Silver Return to Tiffany bracelets still sell for a relatively affordable $250, but when I spoke with Ledle last year, he described his extensive selection of affordable silver jewelry. The old Tiffany revealed to be a popular one. past.
“We’re not throwing silver away, but it was all about improving our brand and having a very clear message to our clients,” he told me.
When I arrived at the fourth floor, dedicated to “gold and diamond icons” including works by Picasso, Schlumberger and Elsa Peretti, I had a very clear vision of the kind of client Redl had in mind. I was. At a showcase of watches made especially for the Landmark, I met a wealthy couple, apparently in their 70s. Her husband tried on her square-faced union timepiece, and the wife, who wore silver hair in her shoulder-length straight bob, admired her accompanying bangles. bottom.
“Do you need another watch?” she asked him.
Later, at the party space next door (the former Niketown site that became Tiffany’s temporary home in 2019), I spotted the lady and approached her to say hello. “Where do you live?” I asked her. Almost screamed for me to be heard in the crowd.
“Here in New York, we have four other houses,” she said.
“Where are you from?” I persisted.
“I’m from Hamburg,” she replied. “where did you come from?”
When she found out I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, it was clear from her reaction that she knew the city of the midnight sun. “We’ve been there five or six times,” she said. “With Gergiev”
She was Valery Gergiev, meaning “Russia’s most powerful classical musician.” New Yorker I once described him. He was artistic director and general director of the famous Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg for many years, and he refused to condemn war with Ukraine in 2022 after serving as principal conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Munich. and resigned.
The Rockets then took the stage, followed shortly by Katy Perry, for an amazing performance that had the whole room singing along. .
I looked around and saw a pretty blonde woman in a short pink tweed dress standing to my right. On her left lapel she wore a bird brooch, the largest pink bird perched on a stone I have ever seen.
Above: Tiffany’s Grand Renewal Party on April 27th. Taken at the entrance to the World of Tiffany room on the first floor (all photos courtesy of Tiffany)
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