Infinite Radiance: Maison FRED Presents the Monsieur Fred Golden Light High Jewellery collection

To celebrate its 90th anniversary, Maison FRED has unveiled the third chapter in a series of High Jewellery collections inspired by its founder, Fred Samuel. Monsieur Fred Golden Light, the latest iteration, presents a beautifully warm and romantic view of the French Riviera and its sun-dappled Mediterranean outlook. Although I saw the pieces in the heart of bustling, stiflingly hot Paris, I could immediately sense the seaside vibe that the Maison has so cleverly conjured through coloured gemstones, diamonds and sunburst-style settings that mirror the rising dawn and setting sun. Here, I would like to take you behind the scenes and share some special insights that I learned along the way. 

The best high jewellery collections are a form of escapism. They take you on a journey to somewhere outside the normal realms, away from the 9-5, the commute, the demands of daily life, and elevate you somewhere exotic. And why should this journey happen only once in a lifetime? Often, high jewellery collections build on one another like an ever-evolving story… new destinations are added to transform a singular holiday into a world tour!

During Paris Haute Couture Week, FRED presented the latest chapter in a story it has been telling for some time, one that’s dedicated to its founder, Fred Samuel. What started with the Monsieur Fred Inner Light and Monsieur Fred Ideal Light collections now reaches its apex with the Monsieur Fred Golden Light High Jewellery collection, featuring the extraordinary Soleil d’Or yellow diamond, weighing more than 100 carats.

Overall, there are 15 pieces befitting of ‘The Sunshine Jeweller’ and its commitment to “infinite radiance”, including designs set with tanzanites, tourmalines and opals for a pop of luxurious colour. What really stands out is the sense of joy, happiness, warmth, and, dare I say it, fun. These are serious pieces with an unmistakable joie de vivre and isn’t that exactly how high jewellery should be?!

Before I dive into the pieces, let’s just whizz through the background. Monsieur Fred Golden Light imagines the moment at dawn when the light is just perfect, and anything seems possible. It’s an optimistic offering broken down into five sets, each of which traces the light as it rises, scatters over the Mediterranean Sea, and soaks the horizon in that quintessential ‘Golden Hour’ moment. Crucially, the collection draws on the Maison's heritage, often referencing key pieces from the brand’s archives in its creative process.

In fact, during Paris Haute Couture Week, I spoke with the FRED team about the heritage pieces on display, including an iconic necklace from the movie Pretty Woman. There were yellow gold, platinum, and hardstone creations from the 1970s; designs with angel skin coral and lapis lazuli; amazing bird-inspired pieces with more than 40 carats of sapphires from the 1990s; and asymmetrical designs from the 1980s, among others. I was also blown away by a masterpiece evening bag, dating to the 1980s-90s, set with more than 200 pieces of mother-of-pearl, tourmaline, and citrine. According to the Maison, it took more than 700 hours to bring it to life.

Now, returning to the latest collection, let’s start with Moonlight Reflection, inspired by the mistral wind as it sweeps across the Mediterranean before the sun has even started to rise. Here, we can see a beautiful necklace, set with three emerald-cut tanzanites (18.36, 26.54, and 18.10 carats), as well as three additional pieces bursting with violet-blue tanzanites suspended as if in midair by blue titanium chaton settings. Transformability is a FRED signature, which is why two of these extra-large tanzanites can be removed and worn as brooches, a matching ring can be worn in six different ways, and an ear cuff can be worn in three different ways. 

The Promising Dawn suite draws inspiration from that fleeting moment when the sun casts a green flash across the horizon. It’s an unusual phenomenon that FRED captures through slivers of Australian opal, opal doublets, Akoya pearls, diamonds and cabochon Colombian emeralds in a brooch and a matching ring, reportedly requiring six months of careful decision-making and craftsmanship. According to the brand, it took more than two years to find the perfect opals because of their rarity, which is far longer than the time it took to source the two carat and three carat emerald cabochons. The addition of pearls is also significant, as they represent the heritage of the Maison. 

Next, there’s Crystalline Joy, which seeks to immortalise the sun's rays as they filter through the water at dawn. This dappled light is brilliantly presented through a gradient of blue-green tourmalines and diamonds, artfully placed to create that tell-tale shimmer across a necklace, bracelet and ring. All three feature large central tourmalines, weighing 12.94, 8.69, and 5.63 carats, respectively, and, as a perfect finishing touch, swirling rows of finely engraved mother-of-pearl evoke the movement of the sea.

The fourth suite, Blooming Senses, follows the sun as it starts to bathe the hillsides in gold. Here we find a necklace, a ring, and a pair of asymmetrical earrings set with floral bouquets of mimosa flowers, featuring Sri Lankan sapphires, including an 11.65-carat example in the necklace, a 6.01-carat gem in the ring, and a further 10 carats in the earrings. The mimosa is a flower that is very important for Fred Samuel because, when he came to the French Riviera with his wife at the beginning of January 1947, they were an incredible sight to behold. The Blooming Senses necklace took the longest to make of all the pieces in this entire collection, some 1,500 hours due to the immense details, engraving work and the grain technique with its tiny granulations of gold. Then of course there’s the transformability, which only added to the complexity. 

Lastly, there’s the piece de resistance, the Soleil d’Or set, featuring a sensational necklace set with the important Soleil d’Or diamond – one of the statement stones of Couture Week. This 101.57-carat fancy intense yellow stone was in the Maison’s possession in the late 1970s but was subsequently sold and returned to the public domain only in 2021. Valérie Samuel took the opportunity to repurchase the gem for the brand’s heritage collection, and now we can see it in a joyful sunburst-style bib necklace, set with more than a thousand white diamonds, totalling 125 carats, that emanate from a beating yellow heart. The diamond can be removed from the necklace and worn as a brooch, only to be replaced by an 11-carat yellow diamond surrounded by a double halo of custom-cut yellow and white diamonds, which also forms the central focus of the matching Soleil d’Or ring… the possibilities are just as exciting as the pieces themselves.

It’s easy to get lost in the magic of these new pieces, but it’s comforting to know they’re all anchored in heritage. During my Paris Haute Couture appointment, I was shown images of yellow diamond pieces that were once in the Maison’s archives, perhaps lost forever, as well as blue and pink diamonds of incredible value. It’s clear that Fred Samuel was a highly respected and passionate man who dearly loved the French Riviera and was open to collaboration with other artists, especially in the mid-20th century. I am sure you will agree that this new collection does Samuel and his dreamy Mediterranean landscape justice.