Louis Vuitton revealed the fifth creative session of the Maison’s high jewelry collection called ‘Deep Time’, choosing the Odeon of Herodes Atticus under the Acropolis, one of the oldest open-air theatres in the world for the presentation.

The performance directed by the acclaimed Greek choreographer and director, Dimitris Papaionou, paid homage to the birth of Aphrodite, while the accompanying music was composed and performed live by the internationally renowned violinist Renaud Capuçon.

Louis Vuitton Ambassador Ana De Armas is photographed by Solve Sundsbo, wearing select pieces from Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director of Watches and Jewelry Francesca Amfitheatrof’s ‘Deep Time’ collection.

Spanning the birth of the planet to the creation of life, the pieces chart a profound voyage reflecting the origins of the precious gemstones.

‘Deep Time’ is Louis Vuitton’s largest high jewelry collection to date, comprising over 170 unique pieces. Divided into 16 themes, 95 of the pieces are part of ‘Deep Time’. We have a further division of ‘Deep Time’ into Geology and Life.

Probing the evolution of the Earth and the history of our planet for millions of years before the first spark of life joined unmined geological riches, Francesca Amfitheatrof weaves geographical, philosophical and mythological references into each magnificent piece of ‘Deep Time’ high jewelry.

In fact, on Thursday, writing about a fashion story with Jessica Stam in Vogue Greece set in Santorini — but not knowing until now that Stam is wearing ‘Deep Time’ necklaces on two covers — Lulu took us on a historic tour of the volcano that erupted in Santorini and wiped parts of pre-historic Greece and also late Minoan civilization off the face of the Earth for hundreds of years.

Stam wears ‘The Wave’ Louis Vuitton High Jewelery ‘Deep Time’ necklace on the left cover, and ‘The Rupture’ on the right cover.

The Wave Collection

‘The Wave necklace ‘— worn by Ana De Armas, as well and featured above and below —evokes the power of the ocean including “a soft, velvety blue 10 carat Sri Lanka sapphire”.

‘The Rupture’ Collection

‘The Rupture’ necklace, also worn by Ana De Armas below, features zircon formed 4.5 billion years ago, orange sapphire and Mexican opals from a mine that closed 150 years ago.

‘The Rupture necklace is a daring depiction of the Earth’s tectonic plate movements, as Planet Earth began to break apart on its surface, ultimately creating a global feast of precious stones and diverse cultures among humans. Variations in biodiversity also accompanied ‘The Rupture’ as individual continents and oceans formed.

‘The Gondwana’ Collection

In a narrative deeply close to Anne of Carversville’s heart, ‘Deep Time’ references that moment in prehuman time, when Gondwana existed as the super continent that became the heritage of many of the world’s diverse peoples from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe.

‘Gondwana’ merits its own post and we’ll keep writing.

Francesca Amfitheatrof nudges us deeper into our thoughts about the origins of these exquisite stones, buried in an Earth that existed for almost 370 million years before breaking apart. Humans can’t really process these concepts but Amfitheatrof challenges us to channel with our inner senses, our collective unconscious and universal emotions attached with reverence to the true provenance of ‘Deep Time’ jewels.

‘The Bones’ Collection

Below Ana De Armas wears the spectacular Bones necklace, “an ode to the architecture of humanity” — and “the link between life and metamorphosis”.

The architecture of humanity is such a relevant description because we see African tribal influences, indigenous peoples of the Americas, Egyptian culture. ‘Bones’ has an extraordinary intellectual pedigree.

Francesca Amfitheatrof explains that the Bones necklace took a mind-boggling 4,500 hours to create. That’s 187 days, each of them 24 hrs in duration. It’s the most complex piece of high jewelry ever made by the Louis Vuitton Maison.

The necklace is anchored by a 20.93-carat Paraiba tourmaline and a 43.58-carat opal, evidenced on the sketch below.

The talent in the Louis Vuitton organization is almost becoming more than AOC’s very mortal mind can process. The entire organization is so inspiring. ~ Anne