In Marrakech, Van Cleef & Arpels Celebrate 50 Years of Its Iconic Alhambra Design

Fifty years ago, Van Cleef & Arpels introduced the Alhambra, a four-leaf clover lucky charm motif suggestive of Moorish tile work that soon became emblematic of the fabled jewelry house The piece became an iconic element of a new ready-to-wear concept for fine jewelry, the sort of thing that could be worn with the casual, chic clothes that the period’s great haute couture designers were introducing in their own prêt-à-porter lines, including Yves Saint Laurent with Rive Gauche and Emanuel Ungaro with Parallele They were shaking up the fashion world at that combustible time of student riots and anti–Vietnam War protests—ensuring that the jewelry house long famed for its exquisite custom pieces (not to mention the masterworks for the treasuries of the crowned heads of Persia and Egypt) could also move with the egalitarian times The festivities to celebrate the Alhambra’s half-century mark began with lunch on the expansive lawns of. Source