L’Odyssée de Cartier: ‘an invitation to dream’

Now this is how you present a fashion film. Twelve seater cinema above the shop so plush you feel like you’re in a jewellery box? Check. Film screened in fifteen cities simultaneously (including in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art?) Check. Guests presented with lavish limited edition book in a goody bag on departure? Oh Cartier you really know how to spoil a girl…

This was the scene last Wednesday, but the crucial point is that the end result absolutely lived up to the preamble. The teaser for L’Odyssée de Cartier will be broadcast on social media sites this weekend followed by the three-and-a-half-minute film in its full glory in cinemas and on TV thereafter. A magical history tour that depicts a panther roaming through make-believe Russian snowscapes, along the Great Wall of China, inside an Indian palace and a grand Parisian mansion, the short film aims to explain the heritage of the brand to emerging markets but also to remind western customers of the epic Cartier story, giving them ‘an invitation to dream’. UK Managing director Francois Le Troquer was at pains to emphasise, “it’s a movie, not an ad, most of the pieces used are antiques that you can’t buy.” This particular fashion film puts most others to shame; two years in the making, you can see why here

The jewels in the film are stunning works of art (not least Shalom Harlow’s devastating panther bracelet at the end of the film) but Cartier also used the preview to announce the relaunch of its Juste un Clou (“just a nail”) bracelet. A unisex piece available in yellow, white or rose gold, with or without diamonds, executive UK chairman Arnaud Bamberger displayed not one but two on his suited wrist. Proof that a Cartier jewel has universal appeal…

Juste en Clou bracelet

L’Odyssée de Cartier book

L'Odyssée de Cartier book

The video wasn’t visible on my iPad so here’s the L’Odyssée de Cartier Youtube link if you can’t see it