Today, Maison Cartier has announced actress Elle Fanning as its latest Global Ambassador and the new face of the Grain de Café collection. To mark the beginning of her partnership with Cartier, Fanning will wear the Grain de Café collection to the 2023 Met Gala.
There are many things that make the world go around. The sun's gravitational pull, for one. Kindness, compassion, and love are all good runners up. When you zoom into the micro, what makes your world go round? On a spiritual level, perhaps family or friends or work or your lover. On an everyday level, for many, it is coffee (bear with me while I lean into this kind of coffee-shop wall-decal sentiment). This was the idea behind legendary Creative Director Jeanne Toussaint's iconic Grain de Café collection, first launched in 1938, which took the pure shape of a coffee bean to make the ordinary, precious. When it comes to a cup of coffee, there are few rituals more precious to the modern working person.
With an intention for it to develop over time with many interpretations, the Grain de Café collection is rooted in Cartier's ability to see beauty in the miniature dimensions of a coffee bean. The Maison's expert eyes of their jewellers taking pleasure in embellishing life and enhancing its perfection through the preciousness of an abundant and radiant collection.
The Grain de Café collection became an iconic collection of jewellery in the 1950s, after having been adopted by the newly-crowned Princess Grace of Monaco, which, naturally, added to its already established aura of glamour to the world as she showed off the shining gold work of the creations, reminiscent of the Riviera sun.
For the Maison, Fanning felt a natural fit to become the face of the upcoming campaign, inspired by the personality and talent of Grace Kelly, inextricably linked to the French Riviera and the golden age of cinema.
"I am so proud to become Cartier’s Global Ambassador. The Grain de Café collection embodies so much of what makes Cartier’s style and savoir-faire unique; from exquisite gold work to the precious transformation of an everyday object. It is an honour to become the face of a creation that brings together elegance, glamour and radiant femininity." Fanning said in a press release.
"To embody the beauty, heritage and sense of sunlight captured within the Grain de Café collection, we selected Elle Fanning for her talent, determination and range, which have allowed her to take on a variety of roles in the world of cinema. As our new Global Ambassador, she brings a luminous on-screen presence to the Grain de Café collection and campaign that recalls its most famous wearer, Princess Grace of Monaco." Arnaud Carrez, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, said.