Caroline Scheufele's plan to make Chopard's couture sparkle

By

Dominique Muret

Published
May 13, 2024

"Fashion houses create watch and jewellery lines. I do the opposite," says Caroline Scheufele with a broad smile. The co-president and artistic director of Chopard welcomes us to the Swiss jewellery brand's headquarters in Meyrin, not far from Geneva, on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival. After launching her very first couture collection on the Croisette in 2023, she is preparing to do it again with a new show on May 21 at the Hôtel Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes. Following last year's positive reception, the adventure of this line, called Caroline's Couture, continues with a second, larger collection, enriched with accessories and a few men's silhouettes. This will be followed by pop-ups and a potential expansion into ready-to-wear.

 
For twenty-seven years, the jeweller has been one of the main sponsors of the prestigious film festival. It redesigned the Palme d'Or and has been producing it ever since. In 2001, it even created the Chopard trophy, awarded to the festival's most promising young actors, which has become one of the festival's most popular events. Caroline Scheufele takes advantage of this event, "which is the most publicised on the planet after the Olympic Games and the football World Cup," as she points out, to present the collections of her Red Carpet high jewellery line at a major event, via a fashion show. 

For this show, couture outfits from major brands such as Elie Saab, Dolce & Gabbana, Zuhair Murad and others were used. "But these dresses are often already full of precious ornaments, where the jewels are drowned out. So I started to imagine models that were less rich in the upper part and with just the right necklines to better show off my adornments," says the volcanic creative soul behind the Swiss fashion house's diversification strategy. It was she who launched the jewellery business, which now accounts for 50% of sales, followed by fragrances under licence from the Italian company Give Back Beauty, eyewear with De Rigo, and set up the network of directly-operated boutiques.

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Her idea for fashion? To create a couture line in its own right to enhance the value of its jewellery creations. The project came to fruition through contact with Maximiliano Modesti, a close associate of the company who has been developing embroidery workshops in India for more than a quarter of a century through 2M Ateliers in Mumbai, supplying some of the world's leading fashion houses. Then, through the recruitment of Fridtjov Linde as Design Director, who has worked with Christian Lacroix and numerous embroiderers, among others. 
 

Transposing jewellery expertise into couture 

With this very high-end clothing line, Chopard is not only creating the best outfits to sublimate its jewels, but also transposing the immense expertise of its jewellery craftsmen into couture. This is illustrated by the dresses in this new collection, such as this long strapless sheath in aqua green entirely embroidered with flowers and tiny stones. A mini dress is covered in crystals like drops of water. Some models take up the colours or motifs emblematic of Chopard jewellery, such as hearts or ice cubes (Ice cube), reproduced for example in a black guipure fabric bordered by small Japanese tubes and sequins. Others required between 800 and 1,000 hours of embroidery.

 
This precision and embellishment is reflected in the details, in the often three-dimensional textures, and in the various embroidery techniques. The jeweller has therefore turned to the best suppliers and specialists in couture techniques. In India, with 2M Ateliers. In Switzerland, with Jacob Schlaepfer, the historic embroiderer from St Gallen. And since this year, we've been working in China with Miao craftsmen from Guizhou province, in the south-west of the country, who have created needlework motifs of birds and butterflies for the new collection using ultra-fine silk threads that catch the light. Applied in a cloud to a dress, they blend in with the diamond butterfly brooches in the same colours.
 
In Paris, in what Caroline Scheufele describes as "a pocket workshop", the models are designed and developed by Fridtjov Linde and an assistant. The prototypes and patterns are then made in a sewing workshop in the Faubourg Saint-Denis, "in canvas, to avoid waste". Most of the fabrics are developed exclusively for Chopard by the Comes Gentili Mosconi silk manufacturer, while the tweed is supplied by the Reggiani wool manufacturer in Piedmont. The final design was entrusted to Italian couturier Mario Borean, who has more than 40 years' experience in the couture industry and whose company is based in Chions in the Veneto region. The shoes are made by Casadei. The house also wanted to work with knitwear, and turned to a hosiery firm in Vicenza, also in the Veneto region, to make a sheathing knit that could be embroidered.
 
For its second collection, Caroline's Couture has turned to two new partners. Irish milliner Philip Treacy will create six hats, while Parisian fashion house Cifonelli will introduce the men's world with five dinner jacket silhouettes embroidered with rhinestones. "We've always produced cufflinks and dinner jacket buttons. But now more and more men are asking us for jewellery, particularly brooches. There is definitely a place for them in jewellery," notes the artistic director of Chopard, which draws most of its inspiration for its couture collections from its jewellery creations.

"There's a market to be had"

"Every year, I choose a theme. After art last year, the theme for this new collection is fairy tales, with light, fairy-tale fabrics and amusing motifs such as the prince or the crowned frog," she smiles, still surprised by last year's success. "The day after the first show, a queue began to form around the models that had remained on display in the showroom, where we were presenting our Red Carpet jewellery collection. We were totally overwhelmed! It didn't take long for the first orders to come in. A few months later, the American fashion chain Saks even opened a dedicated pop-up store in Palm Beach, featuring a selection of dresses. "It brought us a new clientele who didn't know about Chopard," notes Caroline Scheufele. 
 

This couture line has opened up a whole new world for the jewellery brand, which is in the process of organising itself to better structure this activity, from order management to marketing with specialised salespeople, by also investing in a real workshop in Paris. It's a good business," she says. In terms of image, it's very important, but not only that. If we stay small, it can be profitable. There's a market for it, especially in the Middle East and India."

Some women, for example, are now asking for customised dresses based on the colours of their finery. "It's an added experience for customers of high jewellery," says the entrepreneur, who has stepped up the initiatives around her couture project, exploiting various social gatherings, such as the event organised to coincide with the Oscars, or organising mini fashion shows in her various branches. Including in its very first five-star hotel, '1 Place Vendôme', located as its name suggests in the heart of Parisian luxury, where its boutique is also located. Inaugurated at the end of 2023 after six years of renovation, it has fifteen rooms, including ten suites.

The Caroline's Couture collection has grown from its original 55 looks to 77 this year, with one new silhouette added each year, corresponding to the years of the Cannes Film Festival. The line doesn't just focus on glamorous evening gowns, but also offers pieces that are easier to wear and combine with everyday wardrobes, such as blouses in silk or taffeta, short dresses adorned with feathers, skirts decorated with silver fringes, trousers, jacquard suits and, of course, dinner jackets. Prices range from €5,000 to €50,000.
 
Next winter, a new pop-up store is planned in Switzerland, in the upmarket resort of Gstaad. At the same time, the brand plans to forge partnerships with a number of prestigious department stores "to work with two or three strategic points around the world". Another extension of the couture project "consists of selecting around fifteen couture looks and seeing how they can be reinterpreted as ready-to-wear in a small range of sizes", explains design director Fridtjov Linde. "We'd also like to develop bags," he concludes.