Brief: A new hardcover explores the Parisian home of jewelry’s finest

Van Cleef & Arpels's designs are magnificently represented within the book 'Place Vendôme.' The label first moved into Place Vendôme in 1906. Photo courtesy ASSOULINE; © Archives Van Cleef & Arpels.

Van Cleef & Arpels’s designs are magnificently represented within the book ‘Place Vendôme.’ The label first moved into Place Vendôme in 1906. Photo courtesy ASSOULINE; © Archives Van Cleef & Arpels.

 

Also available in French, Place Vendôme is a treasure trove of information on Boucheron, Chanel, JAR, and more. Photo courtesy ASSOULINE.

Also available in French, Place Vendôme is a treasure trove of information on Boucheron, Chanel, JAR, and more. Photo courtesy ASSOULINE.

BY KAREN AANONSEN

The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe — Paris has no shortage of stunning sights. But for haute joaillerie enthusiasts, the Place Vendôme is the main attraction. From Boucheron and JAR to Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels, the crème de la crème of jewelry call the beautiful square home. Now a new tome traces the path this exclusive address took to becoming Paris’s center of not only baubles, but of fashion, finance, and art. Place Vendôme by Alexis Gregory examines the square’s rich and varied history over 240 handsomely illustrated pages. Available for $85 from ASSOULINE boutiques worldwide and through www.assouline.com, the April release is divided into five parts, with a roughly 80-page chapter dedicated to the jewelers who occupy the exquisite space. Whether delving into Coco Chanel’s growth into gem design, analyzing Fabergé’s influence on the market, detailing how Boucheron was the first jeweler to set up shop at 26 Place Vendome in 1893, or revealing that reluctant master craftsman Joel Arthur Rosenthal still dreams of being a writer, the book aims to both inform and delight. With such a read at hand, suddenly April showers may not seem so bad.

—April 2015