Inside Jewelry’s Brightest Summer Yet

Van Cleef & Arpels had planned to unveil its Egypt-inspired high jewelry collection in the land of the pharaohs in May, but the ongoing conflict in the Middle East prompted the brand to bring Egypt to Paris by way of a lavish Cirque du Soleil-style spectacle at the Palais de Chaillot. It was just another proof of resilience from one of the few sectors to emerge unscathed from the luxury downturn. With estimated sales totaling €32 billion and a growth rate between 4-6% for 2025, jewelry seems to be enjoying its brightest summer yet.

This week in Paris, during Haute Couture Week, legacy maisons are showcasing their latest high jewelry collections, mostly comprising pieces left over from the spring VIP client previews. Meanwhile, archive pieces are on display in museums across the world — a now-regular exercise that portrays jewelry as art and its role in culture.
The price of gold rising at lightning speed between 2024 and 2026 — it started cooling and finally came down to $4,203 per ounce in June, from its highest point of $5,634 on January 28 — has been a focal point for the past year. Jewelry brands have had to rework their designs and revise their prices to cover costs, while protecting the appeal of their more affordable ranges. Adding to this backdrop a Middle Eastern market still in flux and the world club of billionaires reaching a record 3,428, these are the trends dominating the jewelry conversation this summer.

The gemstone challenge
When it comes to high jewelry — one-off pieces priced above $100,000 — the question of gold fades somewhat into the background, giving way to gemstones.

Exceptional gemstones remain a defining characteristic of most high jewelry collections. Cartier named its latest collection Le Choeur Des Pierres, a play on the French words for chorus (“choir”) and cœur (“heart”), suggesting both the harmonious interplay of gemstones and their central role.

A rare 30.33-carat carved emerald in a lavish Tutti Frutti style necklace at Cartier, an antique 14.01-carat faceted cushion-cut sapphire at Bvlgari, and 10 emerald drops totaling 107.37 carats in the Princesse du Nil necklace at Van Cleef & Arpels are only a few of the standouts.

“Gemstones are crucial,” explains Chaumet CEO Charles Leung, “particularly on very high-end pieces whose value is mostly concentrated on the value on the stone.” And, “although new female buyers consider the design and story-telling because they buy jewelry to wear it, the gemstone is always the first consideration,” he adds.

The sentiment is echoed by Corinne Le Foll, Bvlgari’s managing director for jewelry and high jewelry, who also highlights the importance of the “uniqueness of the piece” — a combination of the stone’s rarity and the craftsmanship around it.

But as more players enter the high jewelry arena and consumer demand remains strong, securing premium gemstones is increasingly a challenge. Rubies, emeralds, and sapphires — the most sought-after gems — are perennially in short supply, but the situation has been further complicated by the US imposing sanctions on Myanmar, a historical producer of rubies, alongside sapphires, jade, and spinels. In response, brands have begun incorporating semi-precious gemstones into high jewelry creations (once typically shunned) and historical artefacts. Bvlgari, for example, has built a whole collection around genuine ancient coins, titled Monete.

Another solution has been to shift the focal point of high jewelry from the gemstones to craftsmanship.

Doubling down on craftsmanship
As competition among an ever-rising number of jewelry players heats up, legacy maisons are doubling down on the styles and techniques that set them apart. More pieces featuring idiosyncratic techniques are being spotlighted, with maisons amplifying their communications around respective pieces through client workshops to deepen appreciation.

In Fascinating Egypt, Van Cleef & Arpels’s latest opus, the record number of six large flexible band bracelets, known as “paysage”, depict Egyptian scenes that remain legible when they wrap around the wrist thanks to the house’s innovative method of linking the bracelet’s panels at the back. Other creations feature the “mystery setting” — a patented technique, which gives a velvety look to gems fixed to metal that is neatly hidden.

Alongside its focus on gemstones, Cartier creates micro-sculptures in hardstone, known as glyptics, and is the only maison to have an in-house program that trains future glypticians. Pomellato turns chains, usually considered a functional support, into the jewel’s protagonist in high jewelry statement pieces, while innovating on design and adding distinct details.

Aside from opening its own high jewelry workshop in Legnano, Italy, as early as 1992, Dolce & Gabbana, too, places craftsmanship at its core. “Jewelry has become a language of identity,” says Dolce & Gabbana co-CEO Stefano Cantino, “and value is increasingly shifting away from the mere rarity of materials toward the ability to express a distinctive and recognizable vision.”

But developing such craftsmanship also has its challenges. “Demand is rising and the training required to reach our highest standards takes a long time,” says Leung. Chaumet, like many other brands in the industry, regularly trains future craftspeople. Meanwhile, Pomellato has attempted to address the skills shortage by striking a partnership with Milan-based goldsmith school Galdus, and Bvlgari opened its own jewelry school in Valenza (near Milan) in 2025.

Upgrading cultural credentials
Jewelry exhibitions have long been housed in museums, claiming their legitimacy in cultural places. Now, a new wave of shows are sending even deeper messages.

A case in point is “Glanzstücke: Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewelry × Masterpieces from the Mak Collection”, taking place in Vienna until September, which showcases a selection of the institution’s works juxtaposed by the maison’s jewels assembled around six visual and conceptual themes.

“By presenting jewelry alongside architecture, design and decorative arts, visitors can better appreciate the shared craftsmanship, technical mastery, and artistic vision that unite these disciplines,” says Alexandrine Maviel-Sonet, director of patrimony and exhibitions at Van Cleef & Arpels. “We also hope that visitors will see that jewelry is fully part of the decorative and applied arts.”

Van Cleef & Arpels is not alone. Cartier adopted this co-curation approach with its show “Cartier & Myths”, which ran from November 2025 to March this year, juxtaposing jewels to the marble works of Cardinal Alessandro Albani’s historic collection, as well as pieces from its host venue, Capitoline Museums in Palazzo Nuovo.

At Palais de Tokyo in Paris, from June 24 to July 20, the “Pomellato: The Revolutionary Jeweler” exhibition is showcasing a series of vintage advertising campaigns portraying women exuding self-confidence. The black and white pictures position the Milanese brand as a champion of female empowerment, a message that complements the Pomellato for Women Campaign, which raises awareness about violence against women and interweaves the brand into the fabric of society and its evolution.

Consumer behavior psychologist Paul Russell praises Pomellato’s approach in that through proximity, jewelry absorbs art’s halo of prestige — a cognitive bias he calls the “infusion effect”. “Brands are saying they’re not fashion or a passing trend, and are therefore reinforcing that they belong in the same conversation as craftsmanship that’s lasted centuries,” he explains. The exercise also turns the viewer and potential consumer into a patron, but Russell cautions that repeating the format could lead to fatigue and a diminished authenticity.

Multilayered aesthetics
At the Dior high jewelry show in Venice at the end of May, the 19 models wearing couture gowns by Jonathan Anderson were also covered in the maison’s jewels: rings, sometimes even double; multiple necklaces and choker; earrings, from ear climbers to cuffs; hairpins; brooches; bracelets; and even bejeweled belts.

Layering high jewelry was ubiquitous across the latest slate of high jewelry shows, becoming something of the new standard across advertising visuals and on social media. “Layering helps us present jewelry in a more dynamic way, and suggests to our clients that it can be worn with ease, personalized and lived in,” says Bvlgari’s Le Foll.

Chaumet’s Leung agrees. “We have been a bit shy in wearing jewelry. But now, people realize that by wearing many pieces at the same time you can create your own style,” he says. “You don’t wear more than one watch, or more than one handbag, but with jewelry, you can wear as many as you want.” Leung adds that presenting curated jewelry layering in Chaumet’s advertising campaigns is helping to drive both desire and sales.

As for those sales, Bain partner Federica Levato sees only one direction of travel: upward. Brands seem to have overcome the shock of rising gold prices, no longer treating them as an emergency, and although the situation in the Middle East has not yet solved and has affected tourism in the area, consumer demand remains strong. “Branded jewelry is the best-performing category that is benefiting from jewelry’s overall growth,” she says. “There are no threats on the horizon.”