6th June 2023

Swarovski Metamorphosis

Michael Meir-Wright takes a look at the new campaign from the famed jewellery designers

Entitled Metamorphosis, the new Swarovski campaign sees creative director Giovanna Engelbert collaborate with acclaimed fashion photographer Steven Meisel and beloved make-up artist Dame Pat McGrath.  Billed as a joyous ode to self-expression and the transformative power of crystals, striking colours and the diversity of the natural world provide creative touchstones for an opulent proposition that aptly accompanies this year’s Pride Month celebrations.

Meisel’s masterful storytelling, in concert with McGrath’s incomparable artistic skill, captures Heather Diamond Strongarm, Hunter Pifer, Lulu Wood, and Avanti Nagrath in four radiant portraits that symbolise the beatific characters and the thrill of transformation at the heart of this tale.  Engelbert draws on Swarovski’s Austrian heritage for inspiration, with cues taken from the magical garden rooms created by Empress Maria-Theresa at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace in the Eighteenth Century.  The empress’ exotic art is a consistent motif in the campaign, bringing together elements and ideas that wouldn’t normally be thought of in tandem.

For The Butterfly, brought to life by Wood, Swarovski’s elegant Florene jewellery family is reconceptualised in delicate accents of rose and amber, encouraging a voyage of discovery to new worlds.  Channelling The Parrot in another image, Pifer projects an extravagant and powerful aura adorned in an Idyllia collection imbued with tones of fire and sunshine.  The effect inspires fearless experimentation and adventurism.

Elsewhere, Millenia gems are reinterpreted by The Turtle as symbols of endurance, defiance and longevity, with Strongarm bedecked in a shell-like armour of effervescent green and subtle blush. Finally, Nagrath alluringly encapsulates the charm of The Pineapple, with a caged headdress of gold and green punctuated with ice chip crystal jewels; capturing the sense of tropical luxuriance that its name suggests.

The timely joyfulness embodied by Metamorphosis is as undeniable as it is infectious.  Engelbert, Meisel and McGrath offer us uplifting and unapologetic theories on liberation, diversity, self-expression and individualism.  All we need to do is embrace the change.

 

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