The Jewels She Wore is a narrative project devoted to the intimate relationship between women and the jewels they chose — or were chosen — to wear.

Each story begins with a single jewel.
Not a collection, not a parure, not a catalogue — but one piece, worn at a precise moment in time.

A coronation.
A marriage.
An exile.
A portrait sitting.
A private act of defiance.

Jewels are often described through their materials, their makers, or their market value. Here, they are read differently: as objects of memory, power, affection, ambition, and identity. What mattered was not only what was worn, but why, by whom, and when.

At the heart of this project is the woman.

Queens and empresses, aristocrats and artists, muses, heiresses, and figures who shaped history quietly or spectacularly — each seen through the jewel that accompanied them at a defining moment. A jewel may proclaim status, conceal vulnerability, mark belonging, or preserve a story long after its wearer is gone.

The Jewels She Wore is built on the belief that restraint sharpens meaning. One jewel, one woman, one moment: this deliberate focus allows each story to breathe, without distraction or excess.

The project unfolds through short narrative essays, conceived to be read in one sitting. Selected long-form pieces, archival research, and extended analyses are reserved for dedicated readers.

This website is a spin-off of High Jewellery Dream, where contemporary high jewellery, maisons, and collections are explored through an editorial lens. Here, the gaze turns inward and backward — toward history, intimacy, and the lasting dialogue between adornment and identity.

The Jewels She Wore is not a chronology, nor an encyclopaedia.
It is a series of carefully chosen stories, told one at a time.

Because sometimes, a single jewel is enough to remember a life.