Bianca Brandolini embodies Cartier’s Nature Sauvage collection
The Cartier muse, fashion designer and brand ambassador majestically displays the Maison’s High Jewellery prowess in artisanship and creativity.
We meet Bianca Brandolini d’Adda in the hushed atmosphere of Cartier’s private salons where each ray of light is reflected in its high jewellery collections. With her natural, almost silent grace, she fills the space with her gentle, magnetic aura. Bianca attracts attention effortlessly, without grand gestures or extravagant ornaments. She exudes innate elegance and discreet sophistication, the incarnation of that rarely-seen timeless beauty marked by simplicity and subtlety, where each detail seems to resonate with the essence of her personality. As a Cartier muse, she is intimately acquainted with its jewellery. “I grew up seeing the women in my family selecting their jewels with care, wearing them as almost an extension of their personalities,” she confides. She recalls with fascination the imposing earrings and luminous necklaces that transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary. To her, jewels are not simply decorative, but are rather fragments of the soul, with shared stories to tell, and emotions engraved in gold and precious stones. And her love of jewellery is reflected in her relationship with Cartier, a Maison she describes as “the ultimate expression of a given moment, a dream come true”.
Her first encounter with Cartier is not just a memory, but a moment frozen in time: “the opening of the Maison Cartier in NYC, when I had the opportunity to wear the crocodile that Cartier had created for the Mexican actress, Maria Felix, in 1975.” A jewel renowned not only for its beauty and rarity but for its history with a great actress of a bygone era, it allowed Bianca to experience Cartier’s unique timelessness, and the Maison’s special ability to both bring to life the past and illuminate the present.
It is easy to see why wearing a Cartier jewel is far more than a simple gesture to Bianca. Her first piece from the Maison, the Pasha watch, was gifted to her for her sixteenth birthday. “I remember the red box,” she recalls in a quiet voice, tinged with nostalgia. She thinks of the watch as the start of a long history of friendship with the Maison, a relationship built on trust and shared memories the world over. “I’ve been a brand ambassador for ten years now, and we’ve shared so many unique moments in different countries around the world.”
In addition to jewellery, Bianca is also deeply passionate about the world of fashion in which she was raised, surrounded by women who each embodied their own unique style. “I love looking through each of the collections, and I also really love vintage pieces.” Fashion is a way of expressing oneself, revealing oneself to the world. She describes her style as “fairly classic”, preferring simplicity and noble materials. “I’m extremely attentive to cuts,” she confides, referring to her characteristic emphasis on quality and authenticity.
She finds this emphasis shared by Cartier in their jewellery designs, whose unique craftsmanship is, to her, a source of admiration. “Cartier’s pieces are breathtaking to me, the designs are sublime, the combination of stones is as unique as Tutti Frutti.” She describes in wonder how the pieces drape perfectly and freely around the curves of the body, such that even the most imposing pieces feel lightweight and comfortable when worn. “For example, a Cartier necklace can be converted into a brooch and two bracelets.” To her, this versatility, the art of transformation, is quintessential to Cartier’s craftsmanship.
During our interview, surrounded by the Maison’s treasures, Bianca seems to exist in perfect harmony with the pieces she wears. Each one reveals a facet of her personality, enhancing her already captivating allure. Each of her movements, the way she puts a hand to her necklace or slides a bracelet onto her wrist, reveals her intimate connection with the creations she wears, as if they were designed just for her. “Cartier is a unique brand, whose jewels adorn women like no other brand. They make me feel feminine, strong, unique.”
As we leave Cartier’s private salons, Bianca Brandolini d’Adda’s image follows us, that of a woman whose elegance runs deeper than mere appearances, whose beauty lies in authenticity and in her manner of inhabiting each moment with a presence that transcends fashions and trends.
Photography: Emma Panchot
Styling: Filomena Perron
Words: Pauline Borgogno
