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Shine Bright Like a Diamond—The Story Behind Van Cleef & Arpels’s Legendary New Jewels

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The story behind Van Cleef & Arpels’s new collection of extraordinary jewels, Legend of Diamonds, reads like a fairytale. It started in 2018 with the discovery of a rough diamond of unusual weight and brilliance: the Lesotho Legend, the fifth largest rough diamond in both size and optical clarity ever mined. Adding to the mystique, the exceptional stone came from the Letseng Mine in Lesotho, which is known not only for providing remarkable gems, but also for being committed to ensuring complete traceability of rough stones.

While Van Cleef & Arpels rarely works with rough stones, this was an opportunity too inviting to pass up. The creation of an entire high jewelry collection around the Lesotho Legend was a project that took four years, and entailed the collaboration of many technicians and experts. The best diamond cutters in Antwerp worked with both state-of-the-art software and traditional manual techniques to cut the rough stone into a family of 67 diamonds, totaling 441.75 carats, nearly half of the original stone’s weight. The quality of each of the diamonds extracted is exceptional, ranging from Flawless to Internally Flawless, which is the highest purity standard possible.

Once cut, a portion of the 67 diamonds were transformed into a collection of 25 pieces, each made using the signature Mystery Set, a complex gem setting technique mastered by the maison’s Mains d’Or. Patented by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1933, the Serti Mystérieux involves mounting each stone into extremely thin gold rails, each less than two-tenths of a millimeter, making the prongs invisible. The gems seem to float on the surface of the jewel, shaped as if by magic.

The most spectacular piece in the new collection is the Atours Mysterieux necklace, where the heaviest stone cut from the Lesotho Legend is given pride of place; its stunning 79.35 carat oval diamond is surrounded by a set of equally luminous rubies, intertwined with diamonds in a ribbon-shaped swirl. The technical ingenuity that is a Van Cleef & Arpels signature is reflected in the transformable nature of the necklace; the central diamond can be detached and worn on a simple chain.

The Volutes Mysterieuses necklace featuring a 30.61-carat diamond and a bow made of rubies. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

Bertrand Moulin

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Bobby focuses on creating higher margins while investing in society. He believes that our World has room for improvement, and one of his goals is to be part of the evolutionary process. What makes him successful is the collaboration with founders and partners. Bobby has a successful track record in envisioning and creating deals and opportunities from scratch in various industries.

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Muslim Women Share How Their Beauty Routines Change During Ramadan

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Ramadan, a holy month celebrated by millions of Muslims worldwide, is upon us this week. It marks the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, lasting about 29 or 30 days and ending when the new moon is sighted. The month is marked by fasting, donating to charity, increased prayer, worship, and self-reflection.

Most of all, it’s a month to take a step back from everyday life and focus on faith. Each day we eat before sunrise and won’t eat or drink again until sunset. Muslims fast in order to strengthen their discipline and reflect on those less fortunate, who don’t have access to food and clean water. This is why charity is so vital to the month—it’s about cultivating a deeper understanding of the sufferings of others and practicing thankfulness for what we have.

For me, Ramadan is a time to detach from my everyday life and look inward at my spiritual health. It’s an annual fresh start, when I can try to incorporate new habits into my routine that I want to take forward into the rest of the year, such as praying more, visiting the mosque, and eating a healthy diet. 

Ramadan is also a time of community and family—spending time with loved ones is a key part of the month. Whether it’s the cereal eaten with our eyes half-closed at 4 a.m. or the dinner cooked together that we’ve waited 14 hours to eat, Ramadan strengthens relationships with the other Muslims in our lives.

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Kendall Jenner Finds an Extremely Chic Sweater Dress for Spring

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Kendall Jenner has been on a winning fashion streak in Paris. Earlier this week, the model channeled Audrey Hepburn in an all-black outfit from The Row (the look was even complete with an Old Hollywood headscarf). This weekend, she continued her streak of sophisticated minimalism, this time stepping out in the streets wearing a muted, all-gray ensemble. Jenner found an incredibly chic sweater dress in the process, proving that a cozy spring knit can still be sexy.

Opting for a piece by Ann Demeulemeester, Jenner slipped into the label’s long-sleeved wool sweater dress, which had a draped neckline and an asymmetrical leg slit. The dash of skin gave the comfy piece a more fashion-forward feel, and put focus on her sleek below-the-knee pointy boots by The Row. She also accessorized with a giant leather tote and tiny rectangular shades, one of her go-to finishing touches.

Slinky turtleneck dresses have been trending on stars like Kaia Gerber and Zoe Kravitz, but leave it to Jenner to give the sweater dress a more alluring feel. She could simply swap her boots for strappy stilettos, and she’d instantly be ready for a night out on the town. And who doesn’t want to party in a garment that essentially feels like pajamas? 

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Brow Lamination: Can You Get Thicker and Fuller Arches in 30 Minutes Flat?

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I was born with the eyebrows I came to covet: bushy, thick, bordering on uni territory. They were perhaps the only perk of being naturally hairy; coated in a layer of dark fuzz I waxed and shaved or bleached elsewhere. In my mid-to-late-’90s teenhood, however, this Brooke Shields–esque genetic blessing was out of time. Skinny, manic pixie dream girl brows were the phattest then, as seen on Drew Barrymore and Gwen Stefani in her seminal No Doubt years. 

“They look like caterpillars,” my then-best friend, who was six months and one grade older, condemned my brows at one of our many sleepovers, branding the longest hairs closest to the bridge of my nose “antennae.” Then she proceeded to hold me down—with my limp consent—and tweeze them within an inch of themselves.

 Mine is an all-too-common cosmetic sob story for many elder millennials and Gen X’ers—Chrissy Teigen has aired her own similar saga. We sacrificed our natural brows circa the Clinton administration, and by the time the wispy trend went the way of the Rachel cut it was too late. Those precious, fluffy caterpillars never, ever grew back.

 Growing out your brows can be as awkward as growing out your bangs. Nevertheless, I persisted in trying everything to reawaken my deadened follicles: popular growth serums, nightly swabs of castor oil, and 99% of the brow gels and powders on the market, all with moderate-to-disappointing results. Until, I am happy to report, now.

During a routine cleanup—a solid decade into my futile brow-growing journey— my esthetician Liz McKay, founder of Bare, A Skincare Experience in Westport, Connecticut, floated a solution: brow lamination, a treatment “similar to a keratin treatment for your brows,” she explained, “using the length of the hair to create a new shape.” As I now understand it, you are essentially faking your way to bigger brows.

The first of two solutions McKay applied—because I was immediately in—was a conditioner that renders typically coarse, rogue brow hair long, flat, and more pliable. She told me that these newly silky strands could then be brushed up and out to create the illusion of fuller brows and styled to cover gaps in growth. Finally, a second serum locks the new brow position in place.

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