BEVERLY HILLS — It’s still four months before the opening of the De Beers LV store on Rodeo Drive here and with it the public debut of the diamond firm’s collaboration with jeweler Neil Lane, but Lane is already well down the road to completing the collection.
“Because it’s De Beers, I want to show all aspects of what diamonds are and can be about,” Lane said.
Many of the sketches on the counter at his shop here were still being crafted into pieces in workshops in Paris, from which he just returned. Movable pieces in chandelier earrings and the finishes of many of the stones took a year or more to develop, getting under way even before the De Beers LV collaboration was confirmed, noted Lane.
“They are pure opulence,” he said.
One 44-inch necklace comprises greenish and grayish faceted beads cut from colored diamonds that together amount to some 150 carats of stones. Other necklaces stretch to 60 and 72 inches, some strung with delicate lace-like platinum links.
A bulbous cocktail ring is bursting with dozens of stones — in canary, cognac, pink and orange — in a range of bold sizes. The largest of the bunch on this single ring is a 5.5-carat brownish-pink gem. All together, there are 30 carats.
He used beveled stones in stylized men’s cuff links, studs and rings.
Alyce Alston, chief executive officer for De Beers LV, North America, is enthusiastic about working with Lane, whom she’s known for years “as De Beers’ ambassador and our partner,” she said.
The collection will bow in time for the holiday buying season. It’s also in time for the buildup to the Hollywood awards season beginning in January. Lane already enjoys multiple credits on the red carpet.
“Each one of my designs for this collection had to be dreamy,” said Lane. “If it’s not about dreams, then what am I about?”