Pretty Woman inspires high jewellery range from Fred

The fine jewellery collection, similarly heart-focused, skews younger and edgier, with mixed metals, fewer gems and even sunglasses.

Owned by the luxury behemoth LVMH, Fred is largely unknown in Australia, with just one boutique in Sydney and a handful of wholesale partners. The brand arrived in November 2019, preparing for a bash that would launch it into the local market. All of that was cancelled, of course, when COVID-19 restrictions came into force early last year.

But now, says Samuel, from her home in France, the time is right to “create joy” again.

“When I came to the company four years ago, I wanted to create a collection around the Pretty Woman necklace. Now, it feels even more important to do that. I wanted to represent love in a very playful, expressive way. I wanted it to be free of convention – it’s 22 pieces of jewellery that you can mix and match exactly as you want, so you can create your own look depending on the style you love.”

Samuel grew up surrounded by jewellery, which is perhaps the reason she can casually suggest one wear high jewellery with denim. She speaks of her grandfather Fred as Monsieur Fred – “that’s what everyone, absolutely everyone, called him” – and has fond memories of playing in his office as a child. “There was no separation between Fred the company and our family – it was all the same,” she says.

Fred Samuel likewise grew up with jewels – his family sourced precious stones for royalty. In 1936, the young Fred made a name for himself when he began creating his own jewellery with those gems, moving away from the art deco look of the time towards the more rounded, feminine style the brand is still known for today.

High-quality gems remain the cornerstone of the maison. It took two years, Samuel says, to collect the rubellites for the Pretty Woman pieces.

“It was challenging, but that is the focus of the whole collection,” she says. “If you don’t have these perfect stones, there is no point. There is no joy.”