Four different sizes were available for him and her, and the Love bracelets cost $250.Ĭartier quickly did away with the romantic limitations on purchasing just for others, and eventually the brand expanded the range. When initially released, the bracelet was made only in 18ct gold and was sold with a gold vermeil screwdriver. The design is Spartan in its simplicity: a plain oval band of gold, with screwhead motifs borrowed from the Cartier Santos wristwatch. It is important not to overlook just how drastically different this bangle looked to the vast majority of fine jewellery offerings at the time. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw all received pairs, and many of the celebrity recipients continued to wear them for years to come, perpetuating their desirability. Instead, it settled for 25 globally famous couples. If Cartier could have given a pair to Romeo and Juliet, it would have. To reinforce the message of commitment, Cartier styled the bangles as the chic, must-have accessory for famous lovers. One couldn’t just walk into Cartier and buy a Love bangle for oneself, it had to be bought as a gift. Originally, the bangles were made as a set for couples. The launch of the Cartier Love Bracelet was a marketing triumph.
The other was the Vietnamese designer Dinh Van. Aldo Cipullo would be one of only two designers ever given this honour by Cartier. Following in the footsteps of their rivals Tiffany, which had been championing their designers, including Jean Schlumberger and Donald Claflin, for years, Cartier allowed Cipullo to sign his work, believing it would add a personal touch that would resonate with young consumers. The new owners wanted to target younger customers and bring “new life and new blood” to the firm, as Francesca Cartier Bricknell notes in her book The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire.Ĭartier always had a very strict policy of not permitting designers to sign their works, but with the change of ownership a new direction was taken. In 1962, Claude Cartier sold the New York branch, and for the first time since 1847 a Cartier branch was no longer owned by the Cartier family (the Paris and London branches would follow shortly thereafter). This was an interesting time for Cartier, and the Fifth Avenue Maison in particular. No matter, as a few months later, in 1969, the designer made the move to Cartier and pitched it to them as his first design with the company. Despite enthusiastic feedback from friends and colleagues, the firm didn’t pick up the design. “After all, love symbols should suggest an everlasting quality.”Īt the time of designing this bracelet, Cipullo was working for Tiffany, and wore a version on his own wrist. “What modern people want are love symbols that look semi-permanent, or at least require a trick to remove,” Cipullo once said of his design, which requires a miniature screwdriver to assist in securing or removing the bracelet. He fused jewellery and industry installing screwheads on the bracelet to make it extremely difficult to take off. A jewel that couldn’t just be slipped off. Heartbroken, retreating to his studio at 3am, Cipullo came up with a design for a bracelet that symbolised the permanence of love. He was less lucky in love, however, and one night a relationship sadly came to an end. and David Webb, and became a popular addition to the New York society scene.
Cipullo started working for big American jewellery firms, including Tiffany & Co. The story of the Cartier Love bracelet starts in 1959, when a young man from Rome, Aldo Cipullo, emigrated to New York. Yet it was in fact a heartbreak in the 1960s that led to the creation of the classic Cartier Love bracelet. It is an emblem of truly timeless style, found on the wrists of trendsetters and fashion icons worldwide, and an instantly recognisable symbol of love and commitment.
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