We Love Diamonds are big fans of Hello! Magazine as we're sure their 41m online readers are too so, yet again, it's really nice to be featured by them discussing our thoughts on Queen Camilla's love for Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery along with all our reasons and insights as to why. You can see our latest article Camilla's article in full below or you can visit Hello Magazine here to see our fabulous interview/article on why Camilla is such a big fan of Van Cleef & Arpels (who are a brand that We Love Diamonds respect and are big fans of ourselves). We were actually asked a number of questions by Hello! Magazine in our interview with them and you can see all those questions and answers here plus also see and read the full piece at the bottom of this blog:
What makes Van Cleef appealing to royals?
We Love Diamonds would argue that it’s the other way around - the royals are appealing to Van Cleef & Arpels and we’re positive this has played a pivotal part in their commercial strategy over the decades. The backing of a brand by practically any royal, especially a high-profile royal like Queen Camilla, is clearly invaluable to any luxury jewellery brand (and we’re certainly ourselves envious of their market position). Van Cleef & Arpels have a rich history and heritage in the world of luxury jewellery and royals will always appreciate brands with a long, distinguished and fabled legacy. Furthermore, all royals tend to naturally be drawn to jewellery which holds personal, cultural or regal significance alongside the symbolism that any given piece of jewellery projects. Royals prefer personalised and bespoke jewellery and, like We Love Diamonds, Van Cleef & Arpels do have the skilled artisans on hand to customise their offering to create unique pieces that are tailored to a royals' preference. Consequently, Van Cleef & Arpels have had a long and strong association with royalty and aristocracy all over the world and they are known to have created custom pieces for various royal houses. This has heavily contributed to their reputation as one of the go-to choices for exclusive and regal jewellery among members of royal familes.
Why do you think Queen Camilla has turned to Van Cleef for her jewellery, especially with the knowledge that this brand has become trendy with celebs and influencers like Molly Mae Hague?
While it’s clear that Van Cleef & Arpels have become fashionable of late with celebrities like Adele, Molly Mae Hague and several others, the simple fact is that Camilla has been wearing Van Cleef jewellery for countless years. We very much doubt that her choice to wear any given piece of jewellery is ever driven by other celebrity endorsements. It's also worth noting that, officially, Queen Camilla has Percheron-French blood which is yet another reason why Her Majesty is perhaps drawn to the Van Cleef & Arpels brand.
We know Camila especially favours pieces from Van Cleef & Arpels collection which feature their distinctive four-leaf clover motifs and it’s a fact that strong iconography often features in the jewellery worn by most senior royals. Interestingly, this particular motif is very consistent with arguably the most prestigious part of the royal collection and a piece absolutely beloved by Queen Elizabeth II - The George IV State Diadem (officially known as the Diamond Diadem). This diadem was one of the Queen's most treasured pieces of diamond jewellery in the royal collection and it is decorated with 1,333 diamonds weighing a total of 320 carats. It features a four-carat yellow diamond in the front cross pattée with two strings of pearls on the base along with floral emblems of all the nations that are represented by our monarchy including English roses, Welsh daffodils, Scottish thistles and Irish shamrocks. The latter - the Irish Shamrocks - offers a direct connection to the four-leaf clover motif of Van Cleef & Arpels which leads us to believe that Camilla deliberately nods towards tradition and indeed the late Queen Elizabeth II in her choice of jewellery rather than ever nodding towards any given celebrity. Camilla’s patronage of Van Cleef & Arpels is likely also tethered to their longstanding and esteemed position since their origins trace back to Paris in 1906. Like the royals, they’re an embedded brand and one of the few designers who we ourselves view and appreciate as an influential creator of exquisite, sophisticated, luxury diamond jewellery that we certainly aspire to become ourselves (albeit at a less aspirational price tag).
How does Camilla wearing trendy jewellery brands help the royals to appeal to a young audience or do you think this isn't on her radar?
We don’t really think the word ‘trendy’ applies to Camilla since we doubt she consciously ever chooses to wear a brand like Van Cleef as a way to attempt even be trendy in the first place as that's unlikely on her radar and the definition of what is trendy is usually erratic and flighty anyway. Most senior figures in the royal family are well aware that anything perceived to be a zeitgeist trend today may well represent next year’s ignominy so the senor royals as a whole tend to avoid such pitfalls and will instead typically gravitate towards consistency alongside what are often seen to be traditional values and tastes (although it is true that some of the younger royals are indeed more keen to take risks). Being seen by a young audience may well be a natural by-product of her affection for the brand but, as Jack Kerouac said, “great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion”.
What impact does royals like Camilla wearing certain brands have on jewellery trends?
We Love Diamonds certainly feel that younger royals like Catherine Princess of Wales, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have a much more powerful impact on jewellery trends than Queen Camilla does. That’s not to say that Queen Camilla does not have an impact because any jewellery worn by a senior royal is likely, over time, to become iconic and establish a specific trend, aesthetic or tradition and it is clear right across the media that the style choices of royals are closely followed by fashion enthusiasts and consumers in general. We would argue that when it comes to Queen Camilla, her patronage of a brand is not only very carefully considered (in terms of it having to be decided and balanced against a raft of specific risk factors and royal protocols) but is more likely to consolidate the position of a long-established and internationally known brand like Van Cleef & Arpels rather than drive something like a perhaps newer, more obscure or untrusted brand towards a global audience. Risk taking with a less established brand is something that a Meghan Markle or a Zara Tindall is much more likely to do because like most risks, the potential rewards are often higher. Van Cleef & Arpels is, for most people, an aspirational brand who offer Veblen goods and this definitely gears their luxury jewellery towards a more wealthy demographic and, for Camilla’s primary audience in particular, an older age profile. Her impact is therefore more niche...
Final Thoughts...
As we said in our response to Hello!, we love Van Cleef & Arpels and they're certainly an aspirational brand and one who we very much respect. A fascination with iconography is certainly something we see among our own customers who are also looking for luxury, natural diamond jewellery - just at a much more affordable and accessible price. This beautiful 3.11 carat diamond cross pendant for example is one of the most popular items in our own stunning collection - see more here.
Our Full Article In Hello! Magazine Finally, here's our Hello! Magazine article in full:
We hope you enjoyed our piece in Hello! plus all our other pieces in outlets like The Express Newspaper and it certainly represents yet more great exposure across international media for We Love Diamonds and helps further consolidate our position in the market as leading diamantaires.
As always though please don't forget - without you, they're just diamonds.