THE PANTHÈRE IS AN ICON. AN OBJECT OF DESIRE AND FASCINATION, EVERYTHING ABOUT HER EXUDES POWER, FREEDOM AND DEFIANCE. SLEEK AND UNTAMED, SHE IS INDOMITABLE, CHARGED WITH A MAGNETISM THAT REVEALS A PERSONAL STRENGTH OF CHARACTER. PANTHERS KNOW THEIR OWN KIND; IT IS A TRIBE UNITED BY INSTINCT AND INDEPENDENCE.
Cartier and the Panther: Destinies Intertwined
THE PANTHÈRE HAS BEEN A CREATIVE SIGNATURE FOR CARTIER SINCE HER FIRST SIGHTING, SPOT MOTIFS ON A WATCH IN 1914. SHE GRADUATED FROM THE ABSTRACT TO A FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATION THREE YEARS LATER WHEN DEPICTED FLANKED BY CYPRESS TREES ON A NÉCESSAIRE GIFTED BY LOUIS CARTIER TO JEANNE TOUSSAINT IN 1917. THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF A TALE OF SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN THE PANTHÈRE AND JEANNE TOUSSAINT, WHO TWO YEARS LATER ORDERED A FURTHER NÉCESSAIRE IN GOLD AND BLACK CANTON ENAMEL THAT AGAIN FEATURED THE PANTHÈRE. THE CREATURE THUS BECAME HER PERSONAL SIGNATURE. IN 1948, THE ECCENTRIC AND LIBERATED VISIONARY FLESHED OUT THE CREATURE IN THREE DIMENSIONS. THE PANTHÈRE HAS PROWLED THE ANNALS OF THE MAISON EVER SINCE. INSPIRING JEWELLERY, WATCHES, FRAGRANCES AND ACCESSORIES, SHE HAS BEEN REINVENTED OVER TIME IN NATURALIST, SCULPTURAL AND GRAPHIC INTERPRETATIONS. THE CHALLENGE IS ALWAYS TO GIVE HER LIFE AND MOVEMENT, WHICH CALLS FOR INVENTIVE DESIGN AND SKILLED CRAFTSMANSHIP. THIS ACTIVE DIALOGUE IS KEY TO HER ETERNAL CREATIVE VITALITY.
The Panthère Tribe
POWER: THE PANTHÈRE CONQUERS ALL. WITH A MIGHT THAT WAS MESMERISING FROM THE OUTSET, SHE SPOKE FOR A GENERATION OF CAPTIVATING PERSONALITIES WHO IDENTIFIED WITH HER – BOTH MALE AND FEMALE. SHE REVEALED THE SINGULAR CHARACTER OF THE DUCHESS OF WINDSOR, MARÍA FÉLIX, JULIETTE GRECO, BARBARA HUTTON AND MANY MORE. MARIACARLA BOSCONO, ANNABELLE WALLIS, ELLA BALINSKA, CHANG CHEN, KAREN MOK AND YASMINE SABRI ARE AMONGST HER MODERN-DAY DEVOTEES. THESE FEARLESS PERSONALITIES, UNAFRAID TO BREAK THE RULES, ARE DRAWN TO THE MOST DANGEROUS CREATURE IN THE CARTIER MENAGERIE FOR HER POWERS OF SEDUCTION AND DESIRE FOR POWER.
