Louis Vuitton's Collection With Brave High Jewelry

Honoring the 200th anniversary of Louis Vuitton's timeless legacy, the constellation of metaphorical pieces are designed to represent the milestones of the legendary designer's career as well as his life, his inspiration, and his trailblazing inventions.

Born in 1821 in Jura, eastern France, Louis Vuitton traveled on foot to Paris at the age of thirteen and apprenticed in leather-making, working various odd jobs and honing his craft until he was introduced to the Empress of France. She commissioned him a lightweight luggage that could hold fragile objects securely--and he delivered.

After opening up his own shop in a prestigious location, Vuitton gained a steady selection of high-paying clients and re-designed his luggage with the now-iconic red stripe and Damier symbol. The Louis Vuitton brand expanded over the decades and became a major high fashion brand, with couture shows every season and lines of ready-to-wear clothing, jewelry, watches, sunglasses, leather goods, shoes, and accessories.

Francesca Amfitheatrof is Louis Vuitton's artistic director for jewelry and watches and the mastermind behind the Brave High Jewelry Collection. Divided into eight chapters, each of the ninety pieces represents a lodestar or turning point in the novel of Louis Vuitton's life and legacy and is the result of a meticulous poring-over of the fashion house's entire design archives.

La Constellation D'Hercule is fittingly representative of the first point in the designer's journey: his birth. The star cluster known as Hercules was visible in the sky as Vuitton entered this world. Amfitheatrof gives this an almost esoteric significance in the first piece in the collection, drawing a visual parallel between the famed LV logo and the sparkle of a far-away star scattered among stunning opals, tsavorites, and tanzantes of emerald and deep oceanic hues.

Le Star du Nord is a diamond necklace featuring a stone set in the shape of the Louis Vuitton star. This star can actually be removed and worn as a ring, and symbolizes the metaphorical guide which his own inspiration became as he navigated his life.

L'Elan Vitale's three-tired design of Colombian emeralds and diamonds hearken to the wilderness of French forests where the eponymous designer trekked on foot to Paris from Jure as a teenager. At the end of these three star-studded paths is the symbol of his brand that made him a legend: the LV flower, followed by a teardrop diamond.

Le Tumbler is an earring and bracelet set of diamond and cerulean aquamarine in an angular, square shapes that recall Louis Vuitton's unpick-able tumbler lock, patented in 1890. Le Myth is another star of the collection, unmistakably Louis Vuitton in design as it features many of the instant-recognition visuals that are the hallmark of his brand.

The classic Damier flower, the tumbler design, and ropes which represent his luggage line which first made him famous are all featured in this three-tiered necklace featuring a Sri Lankan sapphire, a Colombian emerald, and a sapphire from Madagascar.

The Bravery collection is part of the larger High Jewelry line by Louis Vuitton designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof and features one-of-a kind pieces created from thousands of hours of work--and thousands of rare and precious gemstones from all over the world.