To cap the celebration of its 150th birthday last year, Piaget did not create a book, the usual anniversary publication of choice at luxury houses. Instead, it introduced Piaget Society, an oversized magazine it now plans to publish annually.
“There was something about bringing out a magazine rather than a classic book that felt more natural, more authentic,” said Fatti Laleh, the company’s global communication and image director, who proposed and supervised the project. The publication’s name is a label often used by Piaget to refer to the globe-trotting elite that embraced its jewelry and watch creations with gusto in its 1970s heyday.
Before coming to Piaget, Ms. Laleh worked on branded magazines, including for Dior, and felt it would be a dynamic choice. “A magazine allows you to pick up a story whenever you feel like it, at a slower pace, at your own pace,” she said. “You decide what to read and when, and that creates a totally different, a stronger impact in a world flooded and oversaturated with content.”
The first issue, published in November at 102 pages, was dedicated to the essence of Extraleganza, the leitmotif of the Richemont-owned brand since Benjamin Comar became its chief executive in 2021. And its cover featured Ella Richards, the daughter of the stylist and model Lucie de la Falaise and a granddaughter of Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.
The articles included an interview with Yves Piaget — the fourth-generation member of the Piaget family was instrumental in the brand’s global expansion — and an in-depth explanation of the house’s gold engraving techniques, both written by Vivienne Becker, the well-known jewelry historian and writer in London. There also was a feature on the golden age of the Piaget Society and members such as Gina Lollobrigida and Roger Moore, written by Pauline Klein, as well as photographs by Brigitte Niedermair, Stephen Lewis and Ben Hassett.
With the magazine’s debut, Piaget joined a group of luxury houses that create branded magazines — with Le Monde d’Hermès, published twice a year since the 1970s, among the longest running.
In 2023, Sotheby’s called Kristina O’Neill, a former editor in chief of the WSJ Magazine, to revamp its bimonthly magazine, a project that debuted in January 2024. And the Natural Diamond Council appointed Sam Broekema, a former editor at InStyle, to create a twice-yearly magazine, which was introduced in mid-2023. Its goal, he said in a recent interview, was to “educate, inspire, but also to surprise with stories in the natural diamond world that didn’t have a dedicated space, from positive environmental and social impact stories to how natural diamonds influence pop culture.”
That description reflects the general purpose of branded magazines, according to Laurent François, the managing partner of the creative agency 180 Global in Paris. They are, he said, “a strategic move to establish enduring storytelling for their communities” and a response to two key challenges facing luxury brands in an era of declining print publications.
The first is the “ephemeral nature of digital content on platforms brands don’t own,” Mr. François explained, noting that web pages and social media posts often disappear or lose relevance within a few years. And the second challenge is what he described as their customers’ “demand for depth.”
“They want more than just an image,” he said. “They seek the story behind each piece — the craftsmanship, cultural significance, and artistry, as we can see on the long-form videos on TikTok.”
Jewelry houses agree that such publications help enhance their brand imaging in readers’ minds.
At Chaumet, for example, Rendez-Vous magazine debuted in 2016 to showcase the high jewelry collection La Nature de Chaumet and has continued to be published annually since then.
“It is a simple, yet beautiful way to communicate with our customers and collaborators across the globe,” Charles Leung, the house’s chief executive, wrote in an email, “and it is also the perfect platform to present annual thematic high jewelry collections.”
In addition to showcasing creations by the LVMH-owned brand, issues have included an interview with Florent Richard, the architectural conservator who oversaw the renovation of Chaumet’s store on Place Vendôme, which reopened in 2020, and a feature by Stéphane Bern, a historian and TV personality, about the correspondence between Napoleon Bonaparte and his first wife, Joséphine — a patron of Chaumet’s at the time and now one of its most beloved muses. It also has featured the work of renowned photographers such as Paolo Roversi, Karim Sadli and Viviane Sassen.
And as large luxury groups have progressively penetrated the media and entertainment landscape, magazines “are a critical component of brands’ entertainment strategy,” according to an email from Claudia D’Arpizio, a senior partner and the head of fashion and luxury at Bain & Company.
Last year, LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company by sales, unveiled 22 Montaigne Entertainment, a new platform designed to engage audiences through stories centered on its 75 brands. And in 2023, Artémis, the Pinault family’s holding company with a controlling stake in the luxury giant Kering, acquired a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency, one of the world’s leading entertainment and sports agencies.
From a more micro, practical perspective, Ms. D’Arpizio noted that such publications “high in quality and design, fit the bill of a luxury item” — offering a way for potential clients to take home something from the brand, even if they have not yet decided on a purchase.
Echoing this sentiment, Mr. Leung of Chaumet said that its Rendez-Vous magazine “is also a natural way for us to offer a piece of Chaumet.”
The post Putting Jewelry on the Page appeared first on New York Times.
