Cartier taps into its wild side with contrasting collection

May 10, 2022

The new Indomptables collection features wild encounters. Image credit: Cartier

French jeweler Cartier is sharing the stories of the unexpected through a series of stop-motion short films featuring the Indomptables de Cartier collection.

Inspired by the fables of Jean de la Fontaine, the charming series, named “Wild Wild Tales,” humorously explain the unforeseen encounters between a tiger, zebra, giraffe and crocodile. The brand’s new striking Indompatbles collection was inspired by tête-à-tête jewelry, with bracelets, necklaces and watches featuring two contrasting animals from the Cartier ecosystem.

"Cartier has found both a clever and commercial link to engage a broader audience using their iconic designs," said Rebecca Miller, founder/CEO of ARTful Communication, New York. "The exchange of skins and bodies from one species to the next is fanciful, adding a restrained but very intentional bit of contrasting humor.

"Much like a food and wine pairing — often unexpected but most enjoyable and perhaps even memorable, never boring."

Indomptables de Cartier
The campaign includes two short films, each less than one minute in length, providing a sentimental outlook on the origins of design. British actress and friend of the house Amira Casar narrates the series.

One observes the tiger and the giraffe — an unprecedented match.

A tiger, portrayed by the diamond-encrusted animal in the new collection, lurks through the Savanna Desert, looking for the love of his life: the giraffe. To court her, he climbs a tree to reach her level.”

“Happy ending,” Ms. Casar says. “The beast meets the beauty, and this is how the indomptables were born.”

A tiger and giraffe join together in the name of love

In another short, the protagonists are the zebra and crocodile — a wildly unlikely pair.

The zebra is running late to the “Animal Ball,” and takes a shortcut through the forest, where his path is obstructed by a river.

Swimming in the water, the crocodile offers the zebra a deal: he will carry the zebra across the lake in exchange for his coat.

“Legend has it, they crossed the river together, and the zebra was the most splendid crocodile at the party,” Ms. Casar says.

For this piece, Cartier exchanged the zebra’s and crocodile’s exteriors so that the zebra features gold, scaled skin and the crocodile has a striped coat.

"Cartier has remained loyal to its ethos, offering artistically designed moments allowing each of us to sample our wild sides — our more extravagant elegant persona and our more spontaneous raw persona," Ms. Miller said.

The zebra and the crocodile come together through camaraderie

The collection is not currently available for purchase online, but interested consumers may contact a Cartier associate or make an appointment at a boutique for pricing information.

Tell the tale
Animation and illustrated imagery have become popular ways for luxury brands to bring a more lighthearted, sentimental nature to their offerings.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many creative departments have had to strategize outside of live-action filming and photography, and animation arose as an entertaining solution.

French fashion house Louis Vuitton spilled into animation with the release of its 2021 collection. The late designer and artistic director Virgil Abloh replaced the traditional runway show with digital reveals, telling the story behind the collection in an animated film, “The Adventures of Zoooom with Friends.”

The cartoon-inspired crew explored the streets of the capital, Louis Vuitton ateliers in Asnieres and rue du Pont Neuf (see story).

French jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels celebrated its signature Alhambra collection in a cheerful animation campaign. The luxury jewelry brand touched on motifs of luck and nature in an animated short film.

The sweet and delicate nature of the campaign embodies the fluid and harmonious history of the collection (see story).

"Storybook style brings out the childlike nuances in buyers by providing a scenario to express their multi-dimensional personalities whether worn to an evening event or to the beach," Ms. Miller said. "The [Cartier] collection invites the owner to wear these creatures in a manner that beset expresses their personal attitudes in every setting."

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