Bella Hadid and Chopard's co-president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele gathered at Casa Cipriani in downtown Manhattan this week for a daylong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the jewelry house's Happy Diamonds line, an event that also drew Karl-Anthony Towns, Jordyn Woods and fellow Chopard ambassador Liu Wen.
Five decades of free floating diamonds
Chopard introduced Happy Diamonds in 1976, named by Scheufele's mother Karin, built around free floating diamonds that suited an era when women were casting off fashion rules to dress for themselves. In 1993 Scheufele pushed the idea further with Happy Sport First, the first mechanical watch to pair diamonds with stainless steel, despite the workshop initially telling her it could not be done. She recalled the head of the studio promising her a rose for every one they sold, a joke Hadid says paid off literally, since Scheufele now has what amounts to a rose garden.
A friendship built on matching charms
To mark the anniversary, Chopard revived the original watch style in a version that also comes in yellow gold, and unveiled a New York special edition set with more than nine carats of Ashoka cut diamonds and an apple shaped NYC charm. Hadid, who also appears in Chopard's new Happy Diamonds campaign wearing a piece from Scheufele's clothing line, said she never removes her two Happy Hearts bracelets, one gifted from Scheufele's own wrist and one she gave Scheufele in return, calling them her lucky charm. She said the two connect over sharing a love of mixing high end jewelry with cheaper pieces like crystal bracelets and evil eye charms, joking that she is an old soul while Scheufele is a young one, which is exactly why they understand each other.