Every Chapter of the Cartier LOVE Story

I believe in radical change in jewelry. It should be more fun! If you have a Louis XVI desk you can have a Le Corbusier chair next to it. It’s the same with jewelry. —Aldo Cipullo

Cartier has just launched a new rendition of the Love bracelet, named Unlimited, that is ridged and flexible. And you are going to start seeing it everywhere. Taylor Swift and Gwyneth Paltrow have worn it this week. Brand ambassadors Jacob Elordi and Sofia Coppola cooked up a campaign that launches today.

Call it my jewelry Spidey sense, but I swear I saw this coming.

Well, not exactly the redesign. But the reemergence of Love and Clou were lightly heating up over the summer. Specifically in June, when Cartier ambassador Amal Clooney wore a Juste un Clou bracelet and a Love ring, I think I literally said “Huh” out loud, because I hadn’t seen those jewels on a high-profile setting in a while.

Then, a couple of organic moments reinforced my belief that Love and Clou were on the rise. In July at Wimbledon, the 24-year-old American tennis star Amanda Anisimova sported her own Juste un Clou bracelet while she played. The following month, Cardi B showed off 10 Love bracelets from her personal collection on TikTok.

I know what you are thinking: these jewels have been constants.

Jewelry Iconoclast: Sofia Coppola

The opening description I wrote for “Cartier and Aldo Cipullo: New York City in the ‘70s,” a view of the exhibition and the video touchscreen wall with ephemera from the archives that could be zoomed in on.

While they have clearly kept Cartier cash registers ringing, they haven’t been quite as high-profile lately as they were around 2012, when Cartier relaunched the Juste un Clou and Love rode high on the coattails.

I remember the moment vividly because I wrote the storyline for the Cartier Mansion exhibition, “Cartier and Aldo Cipullo: New York City in the ‘70s,” which was the key activation for the launch.

To mark the occasion of the new Love Unlimited, I’ve assembled a timeline of important chapters of the legendary Love story including the events that occurred around it and the people who made it happen.

At the 42nd Academy Awards in Richard Burton with Elizabeth Taylor who is wearing the Taylor-Burton diamond necklace purchased from Cartier and a 1970 ad for the Love bracelet

What Was Cartier Like When the Love Bracelet Launched in 1969?

Two events in 1969 set the tone for the seventies at Cartier. In October the first diamond to sell for more than $1 million, a 69.42-carat pear-shape went from Cartier to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. At the other end of the sparkly spectrum, Cartier introduced an easy elegance with the gold Love bracelet designed by Aldo Cipullo.

The Taylor-Burton Diamond Drama

Cartier’s excellence and imagination extended to several other lesser known events throughout this seminal period. In the midst of the 1970 taxi strike Michael Thomas, the firm’s energetic president, sent his chauffeured 300SEL Mercedes-Benz to pick up clients including Evelyn Lauder and Angela Lansbury for Cartier shopping excursions.

During a period when the wrecking ball threatened historic buildings, Thomas spoke eloquently to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1970 to gain landmark status for the Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion.

A page from a 1975 Cartier catalogue showing the Love bracelet as well as a cube lighter. The same lighter is seen in the 1972 Bob Stone photograph of Angelica Houston taken for Vogue; photo via the Conde Nast Store.

What Inspired the Love Bracelet?

Just as the name suggests, the origin was romance. “I was searching for a permanent symbol of love,” is how Aldo Cipullo the charming 34-year-old blonde, blue eyed Italian designer with movie-star good looks, described the inspiration at the time. The idea occurred to him when he had insomnia, after a relationship ended,