Haute Couture 2025: Exploring Harmonious Balance with the Cartier En Équilibre High Jewellery Collection

One of the highlights of Paris Haute Couture Week 2025 was witnessing the launch of Cartier’s latest high jewellery collection, which draws inspiration from themes of balance, harmony, precision, and symmetry. The theme of the En Équilibre collection is all about finding that perfect middle ground – walking the tightrope of style – between simplicity and extravagance, fullness and emptiness, symmetry and asymmetry. Although this has plenty of scope for interpretation, it still requires a delicate touch to ensure the audience understands what’s being communicated. Fortunately, each of the En Équilibre hero creations is composed like a character in a story that we can easily follow. Let’s take a closer look… 

There’s a distinctiveness to Cartier High Jewellery that is perhaps slightly more difficult to pin down than other Maisons. Mikimoto has its beautiful Akoya and South Sea pearls, Messika has its diamonds, and Chaumet has its iconic ears of wheat motif. So, what could we say is Cartier’s signature? If the new En Équilibre High Jewellery collection is anything to go by, the answer is juicy coloured gemstone cabochons, geometric lines, black onyx, rock crystal, combinations of blue, red and green gems ‘tutti frutti’ style and, of course, its iconic panther. 

This new offering channels all these elements into a suite of spectacular ‘hero’ necklaces (among other jewels), each one reflecting on the idea of harmony. According to a description of the collection supplied by the brand, En Équilibre is “all about precision, with nothing in excess, which sets its style and creations apart”. Director of High Jewellery, Jacqueline Karachi, highlights how harmony comes in many forms, such as pleasing colour combinations, opposing forces, and the blend of simple and extravagant in a single piece. 

Next, there’s the Byzas necklace with a striking blend of white diamonds, 9.31 carats of cushion-shaped Zambian emeralds and an 11.70-carat pear-shaped Ceylon sapphire. There are lots of different angles and cuts used in this necklace, and yet everything flows well together “through a play of curves and counter-curves” and via the interplay of solid and empty ‘openwork’ spaces. The finishing touches come in the form of square-cut diamonds and tapered diamonds, running along the edges of the design, which Cartier describes as “repeated punctuation marks” that reinforce tension. 

There are two further ‘hero’ necklaces spotlighted by Cartier: Panthères Reflexio and the Nemorosa. The former is about the opposing forces of two key gemstones – a 74.10-carat green tourmaline cabochon and a 14.91-carat coral drop. The sumptuousness of this colour combination is enhanced by baroque-shaped tourmaline beads, further coral cabochons, diamonds, and a pair of panthers, either resting together or preparing to fight, depending on your own sensibilities! Each big cat has piercing emerald eyes, a three-dimensional diamond-set body and onyx-tipped paws. The Nemorosa necklace is different again, taking the form of a sautoir with a pear-shaped and an emerald-cut square-shaped Colombian emerald, totalling 5.37 carats, plus diamonds, black onyx and rock crystal. 

The brand’s presentation at Paris Haute Couture Week spotlighted many more pieces than those outlined here, including a beautiful necklace with a quartet of yellow sapphires, a piece with deep blue sapphires contrasted with sea-green chrysoprase beads, a pink, blue and white tassel necklace, and a sensational carved emerald and ruby suite. I was also drawn to a sugarloaf cabochon sapphire ring, which follows the geometric direction set by another En Équilibre hero piece – the Scalera ring. It’s built around a 6.12-carat Zambian emerald in an unusual shield shape, complemented by tiered ‘steps’ of white diamonds and transparent rock crystal. 

Returning to my earlier question, about the Cartier ‘signature’, perhaps it is so deeply ingrained and so natural for the Maison that it whispers rather than shouts? These latest high jewels are unmistakably Cartier because of a range of factors, like the use of black onyx to create contrast, the addition of rock crystal, and the Art Deco influences that run throughout. It all comes down to the savoir-faire of the Maison, which is on full and triumphant display.