Unexpected Encounters

Adding a new chapter to its fabled bestiary, Cartier's Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection puts a fresh twist on storied classics. CHARMAINE HO reports from Vienna.

- CHARMAINE HO

It's 6.30pm, and it feels like I've just entered a scene straight out of a fairy tale. The MAK Museum in front of me is silhouetted against a dusky Viennese sky in a palette of blues that would have Van Gogh reaching for his brushes. And though the geotag is wrong, I imagine this is what French author Charles Perrault's Cinderella must have felt when she pulled up to the castle in her gilded pumpkin carriage.

The magic continues as I step onto the 160-year-old grounds of the Early Renaissance building to partake in the glamorous evening that Cartier has planned for us. Past the well-heeled guests dressed to their nines in black-tie finery is the high-ceilinged main hall where a Viennese Waltz is taking place. (With Vienna being the home of "King of Waltz", Johann Strauss II, I expect nothing less.) Encircling the dancers are rows of short chrome stools that have been cleverly placed to give everyone a front-row seat to the presentation that is to soon follow. The latter is the reason why everyone-including brand ambassadors and friends like Elle Fanning, Sofia Coppola, Anna Sawai, Franz Rogowski, Sofie Royer, Kimberley Anne Woltemas, Yoyo Cao and British singer-songwriter Raye, who is to perform at the afterparty-has flown in from around the globe to grace the evening. And it's obvious that Cartier's guests are anticipating the parade of animals that Cartier has to show in its latest 87-piece high jewellery collection, Nature Sauvage.