Last year, the Milan-born former model and L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Japan, and W alumna was appointed Swarovski's first-ever creative director.
At Swarovski, Giovanna Engelbert Is Crafting Jewels As Exuberantly Joyful As She Is
ITALIANS like to wear jewelry,” trills Giovanna Engelbert, the stylist and sultana of street style (remember that?). “It’s in our DNA—we’re not afraid of mixing bizarre things together and putting a lot on—but craftsmanship speaks more to me than carats.” The Milan-born former model and L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Japan, and W alumna is now the creative director of Swarovski—the first appointment of its kind in the house’s legendary 125 years in business—and it’s a deft hire: Engelbert’s vibrantly colorful self-curation aligns nicely with our current moment, and her positivity sparkles at a time when we all need a little illumination. “With crystal, you can play,” she says. “You can just have more fun, more...everything!”
When she was appointed, in May, she felt she had “won this Willy Wonka ticket,” she says, “but instead of a chocolate factory, it was a crystal factory.” Little did she know that her first visit to the Zurich headquarters would be her last, and that the next collection would materialize via samples bouncing back and forth to her house in Stockholm, where she built a small work-from-home team. “We have the best long-distance relationship,” Engelbert, 41, jokes.
Her debut collection is souped-up Swarovski, realized in gargantuan gems. “Bigger is better, yes!” she exclaims on our video call, pirouetting a manicured hand dressed with two gobstopper cocktail rings and a simple wedding band. “But it’s always a balancing act.” She test-drove all the glistening samples on their family’s island—a short boat ride away from Stockholm—adding “a sense of dress-up” to fire-cooking, saunas, and icy swims, with the clear Swedish skies inspiring the final colors, which Engelbert says are “like Magritte paintings.”
Her free-flowing, candy-colored rivières come in princess, opera, and an ultra-theatrical rope length that could boomerang past your miniskirt—if you dare to reveal your legs after months of Zoom-only wardrobes. There is a chromatic rainbow-stone parure, and chokers cut like eternity bands—though her very first sketch was of a cyberpunk earring. (“I wanted one big, chunky shard through your lobe,” she says.) Even estate-feel drop earrings come blown up with double-sided crystals for guaranteed 360 glamour, while a made-to-order engineered body piece is constellated with white crystals. (“I wear it over a cashmere turtleneck.”)
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Emma Elwick-Bates
