Despite the uncontested genius of Fabergé, and the splendors of Tiffany, the world bowed down before Cartier, who made Paris the capital of high- class jewellery, at a time when Lalique, Christofle, Boucheron and Mellerio were also embarking on their brilliant careers.
The Empress Eugenie became the most faithful client of Worth, who was then inventing haute couture. European aristocrats and American heiresses, having become unconditional devotees of the couturier, were the crowning glory of fashionable society, and provided material for Proust, who described the salons of this extravagant period in Le Cote de Guermantes (The Guermantes way).
