– LIEKE AND JETTEKE CONQUER PARIS –
After months of back and forth Thalys trips to Paris and hundreds of meetings, yesterday was the day. Lieke and Jetteke van Lexmond presented their long-awaited jewelry collection in Paris. Venue? The residence of the Dutch ambassador in the fashion capital. Wow.
You have to be brave. To start a jewelry line (which is no small feat) and then present it during Paris Fashion Week to the most skilled and critical crowd out there. But Jetteke and Lieke van Lexmond have so much confidence in their Lexmond versus Lexmond jewelry, which they created together with Royal Asscher Diamonds, that they dared to do it.
“Of course there was stress. I am incredibly perfectionistic because I know how tough the fashion world is,” Jetteke shares. “You only get one chance and you have to take it, otherwise you’re out.”
Stress and success
The evening feels almost like a wedding. All the loved ones of Lieke and Jetteke have come to Paris to see what they have been so busy with all this time. The most important guests, besides men, parents, brother, and children, are their dear friend Montezar Alaïa (indeed, family of) and their muses top model Linda Spierings and Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele. Two icons in fashion whose work Jetteke used to admire with adoration. “Carlyne is the reason I wanted to get into this profession. What she creates is so unique and full of life. Almost magical.”
Supported by the top
Cerf de Dudzeele (well guessed, of noble descent) was born in St. Tropez (it can hardly go wrong in your life after that) and became a stylist at Vogue after Marie Claire and ELLE France. So long ago that Grace Mirabella was at the helm. Carlyne even styled the very first cover under Anna Wintour's reign. Groundbreaking because she combined a Haute Couture top with jeans while smiling. “I call it my own mix,”, mon salad,” Carlyne says with a precisely-as-you-want-it French accent. Carlyne is friends with Azzedine Alaïa, in whose hospitable home Lieke and Jetteke (also family friends) met her. ‘Genius’, ‘j’adore’, and ‘mes enfants’ are phrases that Carlyne repeats like a joyful mantra throughout the evening. She has taken the girls and their project under her wing and makes that known as well. Her name is on the invitation and when ‘the legend’ as she calls herself with a smile connects with you, you know that the important people will come. And so it happens.
The best of the best
“We really wanted to do something together where we would be involved from the beginning to the smallest detail.” Lieke shares. And they certainly did. From conceptualizing how the collection should look, shooting the campaign in the Seychelles (okay, that’s not a punishment) to deciding which drinks should be served (coconut water because the Coco de Mer coconut is the most important fruit in the collection) and arranging for the invitations to be calligraphed by Louis Vuitton's house calligrapher. Royal Asscher Diamonds ensured that only the best ingredients were used. Ruby, emerald, diamond, this is truly the top.
Better expensive than not for sale
You might not be surprised that there is a price tag attached to these works. They are special jewels that you associate with a special moment in your life. The birth of your child, your wedding, your first job. Such a jewel is for life and perhaps for more lives because how happy will daughters or granddaughters be when they receive a passion fruit necklace or a Coco de Mer pendant thrown into their lap.
The evening, the evening
When the father of Lexmond walks in, the girls wipe away a tear. “How PROUD I am of you.” And rightly so. From the Netherlands come Vogue’s Martien Mellema, Elsevier’s John de Greef, and Bastiaan van Schaik with his blog The World According to Bastiaan is always where it happens. Furthermore, we see Franceline Pratt from Vogue Paris, the fashion editor of Vogue USA (enthusiastically excited), and actually all other Vogue countries have shaken hands with the girls.
In Paris, Lieke and Jetteke may not be as well-known as in the Netherlands, but they have still made a footprint there. Tomorrow their work will be in the store at Harrods. The Dutch ambassador in Paris is a fan. We can say that besides Gouda Cheese and Doutzen Kroes, we have another export product: Lexmond versus Lexmond.
