Seems like it’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s for Rimowa this fall. The Cologne-based luxury luggage manufacture’s latest collaboration sees them flying across the Atlantic to New York for a special three-piece series in Tiffany blue. The special series is instantly recognisable as Tiffany & Co. even without the brand logo accompanying Rimowa’s as the pairing of Rimowa’s signature aluminium and Tiffany & Co.’s house colour of Robin Egg Blue is reminiscent of select pieces from the jeweller as well as other notable collaborations, e.g. The last ever Tiffany Blue Patek Philippe Nautilus model 5711 was produced.
The first looks from both houses are fun, sleek and exciting. Apart from the outstanding Tiffany blue featured on the leather and felt interiors, handles, luggage tag and wheels, the aluminium-brushed bodies also comes with a special “Rock Cut” design mimicking the surface of a diamond — a nod from one luxury house to another. The trio includes a single cabin case and a vanity/jewellery case, both in aluminium, and a smaller jewellery case in polycarbonate.
Experienced Collaborators
The collaboration is but one of many for the Manhattan jeweller who has run the gamut in luxury partnerships, their portfolio ranging from limited art pieces with American contemporary artist Daniel Arsham to one-of-one special designs like the diamond-titanium “Crown of Thorns” made specially for leading hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar’s performances. Rimowa has collaborated with a number of notable brands over the years, including Moncler, Porsche and many others.
Since its acquisition by LVMH in 2016, the number of contemporary and avant-garde collabs for the house has increased. This is no doubt part a larger push made by the luxury fashion conglomerate to reach out to a mass audience. In that vein, a Rimowa x Tiffany & Co. collaboration must have been waiting in drafts, considering that LVMH also bought over the jeweller just in 2021. Second-generation Arnault executive, Alexandre Arnault, has been quoted professing that both brands are “incredibly personal” to him, the collaboration one that he is “thrilled to debut”.
What is a meaningful design?
Rimowa specifically designing jewellery cases for a collaboration with Tiffany & Co. may seem only appropriate, but the underlying impact of the collaboration’s design choices must be read between the lines. The jewellery cases can surely be used for other small objects, but there is just something so deeply opulent about reserving cabin space for one’s jewellery — an aspirational kind of luxury that the collaboration has managed to so finely touch on.
Casting aluminium in the likeness of diamonds is yet another layered design choice, considering Rimowa’s history of using aluminium for their luggages going back to the 1930s when a factory fire ruined most of their products, leaving only the aluminium to be used. The “Rock Cut” design is hence a two-fold metaphor, alluding to both the partnership with a storied jeweller as well as Rimowa’s promise of luxury luggages built to last.
In this success lies perhaps the luxury collaborations. It is important that a collaboration has both the ability to do and the desire to communicate. The Rimowa x Tiffany & Co. collaboration is set to release later this month in select Rimowa stores globally and online, 26 September. The Rock Cut Cabin will retail for S$4,870, the Jewellery Case for S$6,550 and the Jewellery Personal for S$3,020.
Rimowa is the photographer of all photos.
Click here to read more about luxury and jewelery.