It’s here! Luneta’s new drop of sustainable jewellery, all handmade in London using rare vintage beads from as early as the Napoleon times and all the way up to the 1990s. This collection was inspired by the 1964 film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg), a French Nouvelle Vague film by Jacques Demy. This experimental movie was a huge success when it came out, as it was the world’s first entirely sung film! More like an opera than a musical, then.

The plot is very romantic, but also quite sad - something you might not expect from its candy colours! It happens in 1957, and teenager Genevieve (played by Catherine Deneuve) falls madly in love with Guy, a mechanic (played by Nino Castelnuovo), who’s then sadly shipped off to the war in Algeria. Genevieve’s mom, who owns the town’s umbrella shop, wasn’t very into the match in the first place and pushes Genevieve into a wealthy diamond dealer’s arms, played by Roland Cassard.

Jacque Demy said in a 1986 interview with Saïd Ould Khelifa (in my own translation): “I’ve always loved music and painting and I strive to put all that into cinema. I tried to make a spectacle out of those elements and tell stories through colour, music, poetry, choreography and ballet.”¹

Agnes Varda, Jacques Demy’s wife, says his meetings with Bernard Evein, the film’s production designer, were very serious, and they talked about “vivid colours and aggressive juxtapositions, vivid bright pinks and vermillion reds in the umbrella shop. They talked about the fauvists (painters) and wallpapers Jacques had seen at his grandma’s house, particularly one with a bright blue background and fat oranges with a 1930s drawing. Bernard had to redesign it, paint it and have it made for the entrance of the Emery apartment”. ²

The movie’s candy/jewel colour palette brought us out of our comfort zone as a jewellery brand, as we usually go for pastels, but of course we managed to sneak in some pastel pieces in as well! This year marks the film’s 60th anniversary, so it just goes to show how old things can continue being mesmerising with time - just like our vintage beads.

If you’d like to browse all our new creations made with vintage beads, check out our New In section, or see all the sustainable jewellery we have available in our shop.

¹ Cine Tamaris Press Release for Umbrellas of Cherbourg, page 46, visited on October 1st 2024
² Cine Tamaris Press Release for Umbrellas of Cherbourg, page 6, visited on October 1st 2024