The Bridgerton actress was among 200 guests at an exclusive show featuring a 19th-century Paris-inspired high-jewelry collection by Louis Vuitton
In the coastal town of Saint-Tropez, the historic castle and vineyard Château Saint-Maur became the backdrop for the gathering of Louis Vuitton’s house ambassadors and friends of the house. By sundown, guests were ushered to the unveiling of the French brand’s newest high-jewelry line. The 19th-century manor parallels the collection’s concept called Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds, a series of intricately designed jewelry by Francesca Amfitheatrof, Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of watches and jewelry since 2018.
Newly engaged Phoebe Dynevor arrived at the estate with her fiancé, actor Cameron Fuller, dressed in a cream silk and wool dress from Louis Vuitton’s fall-winter 2024 collection. She was joined by Thai actress Urassaya Sperbund, Chinese actress Jin Chen and Korean actress Young-ae Lee. The highlight of the gala was an exclusive runway show with models adorned in intricately designed jewelry pieces and gowns created only for the occasion by artistic director of womenswear Nicolas Ghesquière and styled by Marie-Amélie Sauvé.
“I love how Nicolas always likes to empower a woman,” gushes Dynevor in an interview with British Vogue. “Essentially, his designs and Francesca’s are less about sex appeal, and so much more about armor and embodying a character. A strong character.”
The following day, Dynevor, Sperbund, Chen, and Lee were in the Domaine de Bagatelle, a villa overlooking the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, with Amfitheatrof giving a tour and an intimate look into the 80 pieces displayed in the rooms and corridors with artworks and furniture from Paris’s Galerie Kraemer.
The collection, split into two thematic arcs—Awakened Hands and Awakened Minds—pays tribute to the savoir-faire and ingenuity of France in the 19th century. Reflecting on that era, Amfitheatrof muses, “[It] was a phenomenal time of incredible change. It’s when Paris really shone as the center of the world.”
Awakened Hands draws inspiration from the opulent decor of France’s royal courts, featuring pieces like the Splendeur, an exquisite array of rubies set in motifs reminiscent of the Louis Vuitton Monogram Flower, and the Séduction, an ode to the era’s textile mastery with a lavish Zambian emerald centerpiece in intricate gold settings.
Transitioning to Awakened Minds, the pieces symbolize a move towards the innovations of the late 1850s, a key period where industrialization began reshaping Paris. In this part of the collection, each jewelry explores themes of mechanization and geometry, creating visually striking patterns and structures within each piece. The Perception and the Victoire showcase repetitive designs in a braided pattern and high-precision cuts reflecting the mechanized future.
One piece stood out to Dynevor, the collection’s centerpiece named, Cœur de Paris, featuring a 56.23-carat diamond in a pink hue left her in awe. Its pink-gold structure and lattice of diamonds are reminiscent of looking up through the base of the Eiffel Tower, capturing the essence of Parisian spirit—literally and figuratively. “I’ve never really thought of jewellery as architecture, but this piece was so architecturally strong that I was so blown away by it,” she shares.
This historical vibrancy of Awakened Hands and Awakened Minds was captured in over 220 unique pieces, assembled under 13 themes, making it Louis Vuitton’s most extensive high-jewelry collection to date. According to Amfitheatrof, pieces that were not present in the tour were still in production and are slated for another showcase in China in July.
To view the collection, visit Louis Vuitton’s official website.
