WWD
Paris / Global
Minimal, Punk, Chunky and Colorful Jewelry Dominated at Paris Fashion Week
"Is there a space more suited to poetry and potential than punctuation? In Unspoken Conversation, Hong Kong-based jewelry label Le Mandorle based its fifth collection on commas, the ellipsis and most of all, quotation marks as "the gatekeepers of direct speech, the sentinels of quotations and the guardians of meaning." Their tell-tale shapes turn into organic swipes worn as brooches, puffy links for a substantial chain necklace, but also swirling pendant earrings and clusters that climb along earlobes.
Designer Tara Lee, a London College of Fashion graduate who cut her teeth at Céline under Phoebe Philo and Jil Sander during Luke and Lucie Meier's tenure, launched the brand in 2021. With an eye toward organic shapes — the brand's name means "the almond" in Italian — she plays with 3D printing and traditional silversmithing techniques for contemporary designs priced from 105 euros for a Comma brooch up to 1,020 euros for the Oliva choker."