Tatler July 2019 tatler.comPHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES12345ON WITH THE SHOW- Sequinned Baguette bag, £4,590, by FENDI 2. Mink slippers, £1,450, by THE ROW
at Matches Fashion 3. Yellow-gold and diamond ring, POA, by LE GRAMME. 4. Saddle bag,
£2,150, by DIOR 5. Metal and diamanté earrings, £750, by CHANEL
[Frogmore ‘cottage’.) It’s time to
ditch the Hay sofa, Noguchi table
and Eames stool. Forget Matisse’s
‘Blue Nude’, the Modernist side-
board and the Le Labo soap; there
is just something inherently warmer
and richer about gold, blush-pink
velvets and 18th-century bergère
chairs, particularly when everything
in Britain is drab and depressing.
London’s hotspots have already
moved towards this maximal-
ist mentality, embodying more-is-more eccentricity. When the
perfectly showy Parisian restaurant
Caviar Kaspia opens in Mayfair
it will undoubtedly become the
spiritual nucleus of New Bling –
if it’s anything like the original,
smoking indoors and candlelight-
catching crystal Manolos will be de
rigueur. And consider, too, Martin
Brudnizki’s glittering Rococo trans-
formation of Annabel’s (the ultimate
heartland of Old Bling), Rifat Ozbek’s
exuberantly baroque exoticism at5 Hertford Street and Fran Hickman’s
explosions of flora and fauna on silk
panels at the Chess Club.
Of course, the British have
a peculiar aversion to bling. Self-
deprecating modesty can seem
at odds with ostentation, yet
it’s also temptingly exotic. It’s a
predicament encapsulated by the
anecdote about the time when
Princess Margaret met Elizabeth
Taylor at a dinner and remarked
that the actress’ famous 33.19ct
Krupp diamond ring – bought for
her by Richard Burton and known
to be her favourite – was ‘vulgar’.
Taylor later convinced the princess
to try on the ring herself. As HRH’s
eyes glistened, Taylor retorted with
a smile: ‘Not so vulgar now, is it?’
Even the most must- be-seen-
to-be-frugal Royals have upped
the glam factor. The Duchess of
Sussex not only wore Givenchyhaute couture (made in Paris) for
her wedding day, but embarked
on her first-year duties with trunks
stuffed with custom Dior, Oscar
de la Renta and Valentino. The
Duchess of Cambridge, always
one for pared-back patriotism,
has caught the Gucci bug. Her
Gucci plissé chiffon pink-
and-purple gown at February’s
gala dinner at the V&A was New
Bling through and through – and a
breakaway from the same old Jenny
Packhams Her Royal Highness has
had on perpetual rotation.
All of which suggests it’s now
okay to look, well, wealthy (even
if you are not). Because new bling isn’t
actually about being rich; it’s about
the idea of richness, the joy of deca-
dence, the pastiche of opulence.
Contemporary bling amounts to more
than crystal-embellished chiffon.
The minimalists are turning,
too, and indulging in opulent
stealth: think of The Row’s velvety
sheared-mink slippers, or a neatly
whittled black crocodile trench
coat by Hermès. And contrary
to popular belief, it doesn’t even
need to be on display. Adrien
Messié and Erwan Le Louër’s
Parisian jewellery house Le
Gramme offers a white-gold ring
with diamonds lining the inner
edge, so that you can’t see them
until you take it off. Meanwhile,
Yves Salomon’s ordinarily delightful
army parkas are surreptitiously
lined with chubby fox fur. It all
has a whiff of the fabulousness
of Andy Warhol, who wore a
diamond necklace beneath his
hallmark black rollneck to feel
beautiful on the inside.
True New Bling can be self-
assured, sensual and big, big,
big. It could be a doorframe-
busting millefeuille tulle dress by
Molly Goddard, an exaggerated^
shoulder on a Balenciaga overcoat,
or thigh-grazing, shearling-lined
boots by Celine.
Small is beautiful? Forget it.
Does size matter? You bet. Think
bold and brash. Wallow in velvets,
swoon in satin and adorn yourself
in logos. More is certainly more –
even if it’s never enough. (EVEN THE DUCHESS OF
CAMBRIDGE HAS CAUGHTTHE BLING BUGClockwise from top,
Martin Brudnizki
interiors at Annabel’s.
Celine S/S 19.
Balmain S/S 19BYS TA NDE R
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