What is celebrated here?, any heated tourist will ask. No less than two decades as creative director of Dior High Jewelry, and as many revolutionizing jewelry design through an unorthodox use of colors and shapes. Before his arrival, in 1998 and after fourteen years of training with Karl Lagerfeld, his necklaces with motifs of carnivorous plants in technicolor, the rings of skulls crowned with diamonds or a mood board where manga, pop culture, Stanley Kubrick, Walt Disney, Bollywood, taxidermy and Alice in Wonderland could coexist naturally and coherently. The land of Titian seems to please Castellane more for being picturesque than romantic. Decadent, strange, like there is no other in the world. Complex: it is difficult to reach the sites by land. The torment of the flanêur parisien. And the most ironic -and generous- of all, Victoire de Castellane has not used perfume for twenty years: "I don't want to smell like everyone else".
Descendant of an aristocratic family (Casa Castellane dates back to the 10th century), Castellane became interested in jewelry by observing how her paternal grandmother, Silvia Rodríguez de Rivas, Countess of Castilleja de Guzmán, changed her ornaments over and over again to combine with clothes, and it is at the age of twelve when she acknowledges having designed her first jewel "by melting the gold from the medals I received for my first communion", she confesses. You would identify Victoire from afar as easily as her work. Nothing is conventional, everything is hybrid. She keeps the same haircut she had as a child: a straight fringe that seems to be cut with a square and bevel, red lips, looks as unboring - fun, feminine, with Minnie Mouse headbands - as her technicolor haute joaillerie, extravagant, baroque. . Everything here is oversize, even the price, of course: "There are no sales on jewelry," jokes Ms de Castellane.
Seen from above, at seven o'clock in the evening, there is such a hustle and bustle in the lobby of the Danieli that it seems that the descent of the steps is going to take you straight to the splendor of the time of the merchants. It is the international press, the one with shouting and gibberish. As in a new edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the countries descend to attend the gala dinner that will take place at the Labia Palace. Let Germany down, China down. The selection of the guests is striking.Maria Grazia Chiuri - Dior's creative fashion director- has not wanted to miss it, and special preference has been given to the written press. We never saw Chiara Ferragni, but we did see the editor of one of the major German newspapers. Few "known" faces, many well-known firms that, tonight, you will discover in a building from the s. XVII under the frescoes of Giambattista Tiepolo, Gem Dior, the collection with which Victoire signs her twenty-year career.
Exercising your right foot to gain momentum and enter the gondola, blindly trusting the hand that the gondolier offers you, measuring the height between the ceiling and your head and without fully assimilating the beauty of the rare favorite bird for the literature of Thomas Mann, for the looting of Napoleon, for the mystery of a masquerade ball, and avoiding the gap mind that the English would say... dinner is served.
The choice of the Labia palace, like everything else at the Maison Dior, runs parallel to the life of its founder. The Bal Oriental took place here in 1951, a masked ball organized by Carlos de Beistegui y de Yturbe (a multimillionaire decorator) that would be remembered as "one of the most splendid events of the 20th century", and the first big party after the II World War. The invitations sold out six months before and the list of guests included the Aga Khan III, Jacqueline de Ribes or Orson Welles. Also Christian Dior and Salvador Dalí, who each designed the other's costume. Nearly seven decades later, one of the industry's most unique designers walks past tables full of roses - a tribute to Christian Dior's passion for this flower, and to so many collections for which she has used it as a symbol: Rose des vents, La Rose Dior-, dishes specially designed by her cousin, Cordelia de Castellane (creative director of Dior Maison), an endless row of chandeliers and textiles by Rubelli and Bevilaqua. She hasn't put on red lipstick, she wears black. Will Victoire have "grown up"?
"You're right, it's true that black is not a brave color, with it you don't take risks. As I like color in jewelry so much, I let the importance of the color of the jewel and not that of the garment," he explains. the next day at a table in the Aman hotel, this time dressed in a navy blue shirt and a bag from the competition's brand. "I choose dark tones to make my jewelry stand out." A very basic explanation for those of us who admire her eccentric outfits with kimonos and miniskirts and thought we saw in this turn a metamorphosis (to our regret) towards the seriousness of adulthood. For our peace of mind, her latest collection takes sugar candy sticks as a reference. "It is true that you can mix the colors of the suit, the jewelery and even the manicure, but for my day to day I need a more peaceful base. I hate complicating myself and for me it is important to be quick. If I start thinking about choosing the color of clothes etc., I lose an hour. So I say to myself: navy blue, dark green, black". The mixture, that in which she is an expert, takes her to the language and answers in a Frenchified English that makes the conversation pass between expressions such as parce-que, sometimes or analogic, c'est quoi?
I was very surprised to see her yesterday in black, at dinner.
She voila. It's like fashion designers when they come out to say hello in jeans and a white T-shirt. It is a manifestation of discretion. We work with so much information that we need that detox.
What kind of information do you have in your hands?
I don't like to work with sources of inspiration outside of me, I only find inspiration within myself. I am not worried about missing this or any other exhibition. If I'm traveling, I go. I can do it, I can go to an exhibition (laughs), but never with the aim of finding inspiration. It only resides in my emotions, in my feelings.
He should, then, insure her feelings (like Julia Roberts, who just insured her smile for $20 million).
(laughs) The jewelry industry is not as tough as the fashion industry. You have a larger margin, I can work more calmly and preserve my personal universe. I work two years in advance and that allows me to design with perspective and distance. The soul in this work is important, you cannot lose it. I think I will never lose her, I protect myself.
Christian Dior said that color was very important but that it had to be treated with care.
Colors have limits. The most important thing is that they are well combined. Mixing them well is what a large part of my job consists of. Try not to fight each other.
Two colors killing each other?
Whether or not one ends up dead will depend on whether you mix two or three. A gray with a yellow, for example, can leave victims. But let's put ourselves in the case that I have those two colors, I'll ask myself: which little friends do I have to call to save them. For me colors are little people, they are friends. And that when the woman wears them they are like talismans that are protecting them.
Do you consider that your work ends once the piece is finished, like some writers who let the book be the property of the reader? Has the way someone has worn her jewelry ever bothered you?
No, my job is done, it's yours now. You have to say goodbye to them. I actually try to start the parting as soon as I start designing them. They come from the workshop and I say: goodbye, you have to go live in a new house.
In these twenty years, how do you feel you have changed personally and professionally? Separate black dresses.
I haven't changed much, I think. I work the same way I did in the beginning. My big goal now is not to end up getting bored with my own pieces. Don't let my creativity go numb. I couldn't bear to think I was repeating myself. That's why I always ask myself: Victoire, what do you want to do that you haven't already done? The first person I don't want to disappoint is myself.
It is incredible how Kieslowski (Blue, Red...) connects colors with memory in his films. I think of you, for example, and my brain is flooded with fuchsia pink.
Color is like a game, a language. I, for example, see my father in black. The days of the week also in colors. But do not believe, there are people who do not have the sensitivity to perceive them. The color is something so WOW, so magnificent. It is everywhere, in food, in nature.
Mixtures of antagonistic elements are common and well-regarded today, but when you started 20 years ago you were a pioneer, at least in high jewellery.
If true. Mixing things that have nothing to do with each other is called freedom. At that time the world of jewelry was rigid, very conservative, governed mostly by men. And I wanted the opposite for jewelry, to convey a new message to women.
It is curious because although you have been linked to the brand for 20 years, you seem to inhabit a bubble independent of Dior.
Correct. It doesn't happen with other creative directors. I have managed to be with Dior and at the same time in my parallel universe. From the beginning I protected myself by isolating myself. I couldn't work any other way. I chose that way of working. And they have allowed me.
