Les Pétales, Mikimoto’s latest high jewellery collection, is a pearlescent ode to roses. Soft and romantic emotions are distilled into its pieces, leaving jewellery lovers entranced.
The collection comprises forty high jewellery pieces, which range from multi-strand necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and brooches. Each one-of-a-kind pieces is a masterpiece; viewed as a whole, the collection captures the fleeting beauty of roses as they bloom and as their petals are carried away by the wind.
The collection’s colour palette is primarily white and pink. White is expressed in lustrous white Akoya and luxurious, white South Sea pearls. Pink, by contrast, is captured with natural, pink conch pearls, stunning pink gemstones, including pink sapphires, morganites and pink tourmalines, as well as Mikimoto’s signature pink gold.
Standout Pieces of Les Pétales High Jewellery Collection
While all forty pieces of the collection are exquisite, there are a few that leave a lasting impression.
Multi Strand Akoya Pearl Necklace and Matching South Sea Pearl Earrings
This necklace features eight graduated strands of lustrous white cultured Akoya pearls. It is further embellished on one side by pavé-set diamond and white gold petals and on the other side by a rose, crafted from pavé-set diamond petals surrounding a large, luminous soft-pink morganite. Faceted pink tourmalines are interspersed among the diamond petals, adding an additional touch of colour.
The matching earrings are designed as a cascade of pavé-set diamond petals, which are suspended from deeply lustrous, white, round South Sea pearls.
Pearl Rings
Two high jewellery rings beautifully capture the gentle quiver of rose petals as they sway in a soft breeze. The first is set with a large, white, round South Sea pearl, nestled within a surround of pavé-set diamond petals.
The second ring features two flowers, each just beginning to bloom. Adorned with two conch pearls in different tones of pink, the ring is as delicate as it is entrancing.
Pearl Brooch
The collection also features a remarkable conch pearl brooch that subtly captures the moment when two roses softly release their petals. This moment is expressed through diamonds and white cultured Akoya pearls, as the petals detach from the roses before being carried away by a whispering breeze.
Another noteworthy aspect of this brooch is its inspired use of colour. One of the two roses is embellished entirely with diamonds, with the pink conch pearl at its centre serving as the only pop of colour. By contrast, the second rose also showcases another conch pearl as a colour-infused focal point, but its petals are crafted with an ombré of pink sapphires that melt into white diamonds. The overall effect is as refined as it is eye-catching.
Head Jewellery
The head jewellery, more diadem than tiara, showcases another iteration of a rose scattering its petals into the breeze. In this piece, however, a larger and deeply saturated tourmaline sits art the centre of the rose, while diamond petals and round, white cultured Akoya pearl ‘dew-drops’ create movement and spectacle.
Woven Pearl Lace Necklace and Bracelets
In these pieces, exceptionally lustrous white, round, cultured Akoya pearls have been woven in pattern resembling fine lace. Embellishing this lace are diamond petals that mounted in Mikimoto’s signature pink gold. These petals lie scattered on the pearl lace, once again creating the illusion of rose petals carried away by a gentle breeze.
While the brand had incorporated the woven lace pattern in one of it’s The Bows high jewellery pieces last year, this jewellery-making technique truly comes into its own in the Woven Pearl necklace and bracelets. Here, the smooth graduation of pearls and the 360° design which envelops the neck and wrists of the wearers, makes these pieces quite exceptional.
Mikimoto’s Les Pétales Collection, Emotional Branding and Brilliant Storytelling
The brand has built this incredible high jewellery collection on subtle emotional branding as well as meaningful story telling.
The Rose Motif and Emotional Branding
As a design motif, the rose is ubiquitous. We see it everywhere. Yet the flower itself is anything but humble. Associated with queens and empresses, the rose symbolized both refinement and royal power.
In Mikimoto’s Les Pétales high jewellery collection, this duality comes to life. While the collection’s name, Les Pétales, refers simply to flower petals, it is the different iterations of the rose motif that dominate the jewellery designs, rendering the collection both regal and refined.
This collection is a jewelled ode to roses, but there is nothing “tried and tested” about the way the rose motif has been interpreted. Some pieces depict a flower gently unfurling its petals as it starts the bloom. Others capture the precise moment when the petals get scattered by the gentlest of breezes. Both capture ephemeral moments, both serve as metaphors for our lives.
Emotional branding is a brand-building strategy that goes beyond the product itself. Instead, it builds an emotional connection with the consumer by tapping universal human emotions, such as joy, love, nostalgia, and belonging. In doing so, it makes consumers feel something special and significant when they use or consume the product.
The rose is an evocative motif and has the power to transport us back to meaningful moments in our lives. We all recall those fleeting moments – the colour and fragrance of a rose, the brief, ephemeral moment that lives in memory. In Les Pétales, these feel-good moments have been translated into exquisite jewels.
Therefore, through emotional branding, the collection transcends mere adornment and becomes a repository of happy moments.
Les Pétales, Gen Z and Brilliant Storytelling
Choosing Dilraba Dilmurat as the face of Les Pétales is a marketing and branding masterstroke. While she has been Mikimoto’s brand global ambassador since 2021, this is the first time she has become the face of a Mikimoto high jewellery collection.
Dilraba is considered something of a Gen Z icon, particularly in Asia. With her strong social media presence and large following, as well as her relatable fashion style, many young consumers look to her for inspiration.
The promotional videos and still imagery for Les Pétales feature Dilraba walking through a maze composed entirely of rose bushes. The visuals are soft, delicate and feminine, bathed in varying shades of pink.
The trope is familiar – a princess lost in a maze. But that is where the familiarity ends.
Within the maze, Dilraba is surrounded by the beauty of the roses, both in bloom and as their petals scatter with the wind. Rather than rushing to find her way out, she pauses to savour the moment, all the while adorned in pieces from Les Pétales.
This subversion of the “damsel in distress” trope holds strong appeal for Gen Z consumers, especially on an emotional level. The fact that the princess neither flees the maze nor needs rescuing, is both empowering and refreshingly relatable to a generation carving its own path. While it can be assumed that the princess will find her way out of the maze, her choice to stop and literally “smell the roses” gives her agency and reinforces her sense of independence.
By creating this video and featuring Dilraba as its protagonist, Mikimoto has succeeded in cultivating brand loyalty in a completely new cohort of pearl jewellery lovers: Gen Z.
