Cannes Diary with Chopard

Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck

Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck

We arrive and live in the moment.

The day started out beautifully. Up on that Chopard terrace in the sky, we had a light lunch around conversations between Harvey Weinstein and Colin Firth while the radiant and idol worthy Livia Giuggioli, Mr. Firth’s wife, chatted with Caroline Scheufele about Chopard’s newest collection of “Green Carpet Jewelry“, which is 100% eco-friendly and mined in a sustainable fashion. This makes Chopard the first high jewelry brand to bring about a conscious change from start to finish! Being the glamorous company that Chopard is, the dazzling site of celebrities poured in to show their support for the initiative and see the first few pieces on display. Caroline talked about how the aesthetic was inspired by the delicacy of lace, something I found so poetic – a contrast between classic design and a new future.

After lunch we took a little stroll though the narrow streets of Cannes, peering in shop windows, dreaming of all the lovely French things we could bring home and popping into Petit Bateau to find gifts for our much anticipated niece and nephew due this June. There is something so fun and thrilling about collecting treasures from around the world to share with two little humans who aren’t even here yet. All these plans and dreams – in my imagination I’ve already had so many conversations with them. It’s amazing how connected we can be and what we can carry within us.

Then it was time. Wearing the most delicate Chopard diamond earrings, I slipped into white column Donna Karan gown that made me feel like a true Greek goddess. I felt radiant that night, beautiful and happy. To experience something so grand as the red carpet in Cannes was beyond thrilling. The line of black cars, the deep crowds of people all trying to get a peek at someone famous, the screams of excitement, the photographers yelling “Over here! One more! Over here!”, and of course, that beautiful red carpet. Arrivals are all timed so the cast and directors walk last into the theatre where the room erupts into applause. Attending a premiere, being able to watch the film with all the people who gave so much of their time, talent, and vision to create, was unforgettable. At dinner afterward, Kevin and I discussed how inspired we were. Everyone was there in celebration of art. Everyone was focused on the same thing and it wasn’t about us, it was about the people who created and about what they created. We were privileged enough to see Le Passé “The Past” by director Asghar Farhadi and as the credits rolled, tears streamed down the young actress Pauline Burlet’s face as the audience rose to its feet in the longest standing ovation I have ever witnessed. It was moving.

There are a few moments in the mirage of life that are really a time and place that stick with you, that stand strong in your memories. Our wedding, the first cinemagraph, my first photo shoot when I was a child, seeing the David with my own eyes, the raw roar of a lion, the color of the ocean in the Caribbean, my Grandmother’s potato soup and now this… attending Cannes.

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Cannes Diary with Chopard

hotel du cap

Hotel du Cap

We found paradise. Whisked away from the hustle and bustle of Cannes, we emerged at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. The once private mansion opened as an Antibes hotel in 1870 overlooking the French Riviera like a perfect postcard. It’s the kind of corner you turn where you feel as if they shut the gates behind you, you would never know a world outside anymore…nor care to. The secrets these old walls could tell, the affair between Taylor and Burton, the celebrities and their chaos wax and wane like the tides. You walk the grounds and you feel as if nobody else exists…and if you listen closely in the silence of the garden, you can hear the ocean calling like the distant sound of the late night trumpet from behind the damp walls of a New Orleans party. At the water’s edge sits the magnificent Resturant Eden Roc where we sipped on white wine and enjoyed the view while Leo did press interviews for Gatsby and Sasha Baron Cohen took photographs of his parents on vacation. This day sits in my memory as one of those beautiful days where the sun came out, everyone was smiling, we were young and beautiful and still making our way, the world still had magic and we had more time to create. I read somewhere there is a plaque in the garden that reads “Ce qui sera, c’est ce qui fut”- “what will be, is what was” and this day was perfect.
As the late afternoon set in, the rain returned as did we to Cannes. Kevin and I had a Chopard Cinemagraph shoot scheduled with Cara Delevingne before we all descended on the evening’s activities. That particular night was the Chopard Trophy Party with Colin Firth as guest of honor and a performance by Solange Knowles at the Hotel Martinez before slipping peacefully to bed dreaming about that garden of Eden that has captured my imagination so.

French Riviera

Eden Roc Hotel du Cap  Eden Roc

Eden Roc

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Cannes Diary with Chopard

Cannes Film Festival (58)

Our journey to Cannes started a few months back; it actually began in Geneva in a workshop of craftsmen, spending countless hours making this year’s precious Palme d’Or Chopard so proudly bears the honor of crafting each year for the Cannes Film Festival.

I had a lot of expectations for Cannes – how could you not with such a famous and star studded event? I can remember as if it was yesterday sitting at the breakfast bar of my parents’ house in Texas, getting ready for school and watching the Today Show cover the red carpet of Cannes. My eyes were fixated on the screen… and now I am here. Beyond the glamour and the evening gowns, the faces of such notable actors and luxury brand names, the Cote d’Azur, our French Riviera, was also the view that inspired artists such as Matisse, Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald. I couldn’t wait to see it, to taste it, and to just watch it all with my own eyes and not those of a child in front of a TV set.

The day started at the Chopard Lounge on top of the Hotel Martinez: a sweeping terrace with views of the Promenade de la Croisette. Yachts smiled in the harbor as the crowds of photographers swam around waiting for pictures of celebrity arrivals in the bustling streets. It was a very strange sensation from up on the terrace and laying in bed at night to all of a sudden hear screams from a crowd – ah yes, another celebrity has emerged.

The rain came and went and with each pop of sun another beautifully dressed guest would walk through the doors, glittering in diamonds and sapphires, French perfumes dancing through the air, entangling itself with the smell of fresh cut roses. The distant sound of champagne being poured and glasses clinking, the faint smell of cigarettes over whispers and laugher, and that view… I’ll never get over that beautiful view.

As the day came to a close we attended the official dinner of the opening ceremony of the festival at the Agora. The Great Gatsby had just finished premiering and as we sat for dinner, in poured the cast and an excited air filled the room…but it was not until Steven Spielberg walked in that the space erupted in applause. He was magnanimous.

The first day at Cannes…despite being jet lagged and just coming off a week long shoot in LA, I lay in bed and thought about how the little girl watching the TV became the woman walking in the room tonight.

Cannes Film Festival (55) Cannes Film Festival (54)

MAIYET hand block printed  in Jaipur, India maxi dress to blow around in the Mediterranean wind. 

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