Jewelry | Quite Continental

Replay || L’Odyssée de Cartier

04/04/2012 § 1 Comment

By now, you’ve probably already viewed the beautiful short film L’Odyssée de Cartier, a fantastic exploration of the history of the maison (if not, you can find it here). Now you can discover the symbols hidden in La Panthère’s trek around the world with the help of Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s Image, Style and Heritage Director. What an amazing job, no?

Sidenote: you can also see a behind-the-scenes of L’Odyssée de Cartier here, if that’s your kind of thing.

Quite Continental Charm School: Day 8 — Your Family Jewels

08/02/2012 § 2 Comments

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life

The fabulous Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Image via the Smithsonian.
More on Gertrude here.

Editor’s Note: I’m very pleased to introduce our third guest speaker! Christine Mitchell is an amazingly talented artist and the founder of the blog N’East Style, where she explores an aesthetic that is modern, yet rustic, with a deep admiration of all things New England, independent and handmade. I came to know Christine initially through her artwork — it’s everywhere! Her drawings and logo work appears all over the interwebs, recently graced a lovely set of stationery for Tory Burch and even the handmade card she sent me for Christmas.

But aside from all the cool stuff Christine introduces me to on her blog, and her amazing talent as an artist, the main reason I asked her to participate is because she is honestly one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I knew whatever she chose to share would be heartfelt and charming, just like she is, and I was right. If you are not yet familiar with Christine or N’East Style, it is my pleasure to introduce you.

Without any further ado, Christine’s tip for a charmed life.

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Day 8: Your Family Jewels
In general, I’m not a huge accessorizer. It’s very likely that is due to the fact that in the mornings before work, instead of contemplating what I’m going to wear I find myself cleaning, writing note cards, catching up on emails, or sleeping past my alarm. As my work land personal lives continued to get more frenzied (and exciting!) in the past years, I decided to ditch the heaps of slightly chintzy jewelry options in exchange for a finely edited selection of beautiful pieces that are very dear to me and that I wear day in and day out. For me, it was akin to one of the final stages of becoming a woman. Now, I wear jewelry with history; a few turquoise and silvers Navajo pieces given to me by my mother, a necklace and pair of earrings made by a dear friend and talented jewelry designer Kate Jones (both of which my wonderful boyfriend gave me), a necklace my sister brought back from Bali, and a couple simple silver and gold pieces made by local designers that were the first big presents I ever gave to myself. I feel sophisticated and completely myself when I wear these pieces, every single day. And even better still, I look forward to the day that I’ll be able to pass some of these pieces down to my daughter(s) and share with them the stories of each treasured piece.

by Christine Mitchell, of N’East Style.

The Quite Continental Charm School
A modern guide to creating a charmed life

Style Icon: Gaia Repossi

06/10/2011 § Leave a Comment

I spied Gaia a few times whist meandering through all the fashion week photos, but this picture of her from the Paris YSL spring 2012 show blew my mind. Of course, wear a suit and tie to YSL, of course, this would have sat well with Monsieur Saint Laurent… I love how Gaia frequently favors the masculin féminin, but she also seamlessly shifts — chameleon-like — to a decidedly more feminine look.

Wearing Balmain, with Karl Lagerfeld and Eugenie Niarchos in 2009.

Only twenty five years old and a member of the Repossi family , fine jewelery makers since 1920, Gaia has been the artistic director of Maison Repossi since the age of twenty and designed her first collection in 2007.

At Chanel spring 2012

At Proenza Schouler spring 2012

Perhaps it’s the mix of the two—an Italian background and a French way of life—that helped transform the rebellious Monte Carlo—raised teenager into a budding fashion icon. (She has unofficially been ordained the new face of chic, minimalist style.) Notes Altuzarra, “She mixes a kind of French nonchalance with Italian glamour and femininity.” [Derek Blasberg for Harper's Bazaar.]

Décris-nous ton style:
Androgyne simple et élégant. J’aime les classiques que je casse.

Tes icônes de mode?
Yves Saint Laurent pour sa vision intemporelle et son univers. Annie Hall, Verushka… [Vogue Paris: Dans le dressing de Gaia Repossi.]

How could I not adore Gaia?

Especially with a closet full of shoes like this…

To create her personal style, which she described as “strict,” she often mixes vintage and more current designer pieces, many of them menswear-inspired…”I don’t like anything too glamorous—it’s just not me”…Ms. Repossi arrived at our meeting looking like a modern Annie Hall, in baggy men’s jeans, Hermès oxfords from the 1970s and a well-cut plaid blazer by one of her favorite brands, Céline. [Rachel Dodes for WSJ.]