Audrey Hepburn knew it. Coco Chanel knew it. And modern-day stars from Rihanna to Keira Knightley and Angelina Jolie have also caught on to the fact that there is nothing like a string of pearls to light up a woman’s face.
"Pearls are very flattering to every skin tone, and have connotations of ancestry and heritage," says Charlotte Byrne, acting jewellery and watches editor at the British-based society magazine Tatler. "What makes them extra special is that they don't need to be cut out of their natural shape in order to be beautiful. They're luxurious, incredibly valuable, but often not as ostentatious as cut stones, which means that they can be worn more easily with daywear."
Pearls are perhaps less famous as an ethical jewellery choice. But as the only gemstone made by an animal, they are highly sustainable, particularly in the case of farms such as the Qatar Pearl Legacy, a project led by the Tahitian pearl brand Robert Wan, which has partnered with the Qatar Foundation and Qatar Luxury Group since 2009. Located off the Doha shoreline, the pearl farm houses a stock of 200,000 oysters, and has a cultural and educational programme that aims to revive the ancient tradition of pearling in the GCC.
“How do you get a cultured pearl? You just insert a tiny natural bead inside the oyster shell for the animal to recreate a natural process. To protect herself from the foreign body, she will build up layers of nacre that become a pearl. That is the only human intervention,” says Audrey Tcherkoff, the Dubai-based Middle East chief executive of Robert Wan.
The company has just harvested its second batch of pearls in Qatar, having presented the first at the Doha Watches and Jewellery Festival in February. Around six or seven millimetres in size, the Gulf gems have a natural lustre and are white, with silver, gold, cream or pink overtones. (Pearls take their colour from the shell of the oysters in which they are grown; Robert Wan’s pearls from Tahiti may have more exotic colours, such as green, grey, cherry or – the most prized – black.)
“The reaction of the local people was like going back to their teenage years – they all started talking about their grandfathers,” says Tcherkoff. Many in the Gulf buy pearls for reasons of history and heritage, she believes, but this is only part of the story that has seen Robert Wan grow its business in the region by an average of 18 per cent year on year since arriving in Dubai eight years ago – the brand has a showroom in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, as well as a presence in Bloomingdale’s in The Dubai Mall and Harvey Nichols in Mall of the Emirates.
“Today’s customers are more conscious about what they are buying, and the values of the brand they are buying from are important,” says Tcherkoff. “When you buy a pearl, you contribute to the protection of the environment. Pearl farming is the best indication of the health of the ecosystem, because your pearl can shine only if it has been grown in pure water.”
At Qatar Pearl Legacy, the health of the oysters is taken very seriously indeed. Care is taken to ensure that they have enough food, and that there is absolutely no pollution present (staff are not even permitted to use soap on site). They are hung on long lines, deep in the sea until they are strong enough to be grafted – the process of inserting the organic bead, which is done as quickly as possible to avoid causing distress.
Importantly, the process of harvesting, which can be undertaken after a year or two, does not kill the oyster – instead, if the animal is strong enough, a second bead is inserted into the space left by the first, allowing a larger pearl to be grown in the next harvest. Once an oyster does die, Robert Wan reuses the shells to create mother-of-pearl pens, furniture inlays and even skincare products. Thus, compared with the destructive process of mining for other gemstones, the pearl has a clear edge in sustainability.
They are also perennially stylish, with occasional upswings in popularity when a fashion house in London, Paris, New York or Milan uses them in a new and unusual way. “When Chanel or Dior puts pearls on their catwalk or in their collections it does help a lot to promote pearls into fashion,” says Tcherkoff.
One such moment was in 2013, when Alexander McQueen presented an autumn/winter collection of just 10 looks, each adorned with pearls. Models wore lattice masks made of pearls, with one walking 25,000 of the gems down the runway. The show sparked something of a revival, giving pearls an edge they are sometimes seen to lack. At this season’s Paris Fashion Week, Alber Elbaz used a pearl trim in Lanvin’s ready-to-wear apparel, while large pearls were a point of focus in the brand’s jewellery pieces.
“In the past couple of years there has definitely been a resurgence; we’ve seen a lot more pearls being used at traditional high-jewellery houses,” says Byrne. “Fashion pearl jewellery has increased in popularity, too, thanks to Chanel’s headphone pearl necklaces last year. We’ve also seen new designers like Melanie Georgacopoulos coming through, working only with pearls.”
All this has increased demand for the valuable stones, retailers report. “Sales are improving because brands are going beyond classic designs and settings and creating pieces for a more contemporary and trendier customer,” says Dima Hallal, vice president of merchandising for jewellery at Bloomingdale’s Dubai. “Whether it’s a single Tahitian pearl on a coloured silk cord or a double-fingered ring, designers are exploring and embracing edgier, less traditional designs that can be worn every day as opposed to solely for special occasions. We have seen a rise in the popularity of single pearl bracelets as they start at an attractive price point and can be worn alone or stacked with other jewellery pieces.”
According to Hallal, the organic nature of pearls, each of which has a unique shape, colour and size, adds to the romance. Robert Wan offers a “pearlsonality test” to help customers to select the stone (or stones) that best suits them.
“If you have a small budget and you’re young and trendy, you can go for a small item that you put on a string,” suggests Tcherkoff, who likes to play with pearl trends, wearing irregular shapes, as well as long strings of black Tahitian pearls. “If you have a higher budget, you may prefer to invest in a full strand that you can keep for the next generation.” Indeed, the most affluent parents may not feel the need to wait. At the recent Paris Fashion Week, Kim Kardashian tweeted a picture of her 1-year-old daughter, North West, asleep in a string of pearls.
However young they start, Robert Wan aims to ensure that the jewellery lovers of the future will once again be able to buy pearls from the Gulf. After Japanese cultured pearls flooded the market in the 1930s, the tradition was lost, as divers who had risked life and limb to obtain natural pearls found themselves undercut.
Today, Robert Wan is working with the Qatari leadership to restore this lost heritage. Locals are heavily involved in Qatar Pearl Legacy, says Tcherkoff, with some students being sent to Tahiti to learn about pearl farming and the environment. It is this investment in the local community that, she hopes, will ensure that a tradition that dates back about 7,000 years can continue for many more centuries to come.