Diamonds, the King of Bling

It's because for women who covet all that glisters, the 153-year-old French jewellery business is the Rolls-Royce of sparkle.

A century ago, Cartier opened its doors in New York. And so began a love affair between America's elite and Europe's finest jeweller, with everyone from Hollywood starlets to society darlings donning Cartier's exclusive brand of bling. A new book, Cartier and America, celebrates the 100-year-old love affair between the jeweller to the stars and the US, cataloguing commissions by everyone from Grace Kelly to Wallis Simpson. And it is a glossy love letter to the timeless nature of Cartier in that the clocks, tiaras, ornaments and trinkets that adorn its pages are almost impossible to date. They remain as classic and as opulent as ever.

Unlike some of the other jewellers namechecked by Monroe, Cartier has opted out of courting the masses, preferring instead to keep its 'ice' as expensive and exclusive as possible. By contrast, Tiffany & Co's silver charm bracelets swing from the wrists of half the tourists in New York.

Cartier keeps the carat-count high and continues to sell its jewel-encrusted animal brooches, watches and neck-breaking chokers to the kind of people who don't need to ask the price. For the rest of us, who need to ask and therefore can't afford it, Cartier and America is an opportunity to access a world where diamond-encrusted cigarette cases and 150-carat pieces of jewellery are de rigueur.

Louis-Franois Cartier set up shop in Paris in 1847, later expanding to London and New York, where the Fifth Avenue mansion that houses the store was purchased for 100 and a string of natural pearls, then worth 1 million. By the early 20th century, the jeweller was taking painfully extravagant commissions from wealthy clients. These included 27 tiaras made for guests at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. Some of the more bizarre orders included a set of solid-gold toothpicks for King Farouk of Egypt, jewelled can openers for King Edward VII (who dubbed Cartier "King of jewellers and jeweller of Kings") and 18-carat gold yo-yos for the yachtsman W K Vanderbilt.

The strong relationship between Cartier and the world's rich and famous shows no sign of slowing. The Cartier name has become synonymous with high glamour, and as such it is a favourite with celebrities on the red carpet. At the recent Golden Globes , stars including Reese Witherspoon and Camille Belle (10,000 BC) were decked out in Cartier, and as the awards season builds to a climax with the Oscars next month, we can be assured that more than one starlet will hit the red carpet wearing pieces by the world's most famous jeweller (Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams were among those wearing them at last year's ceremony).

While the opulent nature of Cartier's pieces attracts one or two less desirable celebrity endorsers (Ashley and Cheryl Cole own matching Cartier Santos 100-diamond watches, for example) the jeweller has enjoyed a number of high-calibre patrons over the years. The writer Ernest Hemingway used a Cartier pen. Winston Churchill addressed his son's forgetfulness by gifting him a solid gold Cartier cigarette case engraved with his address and an enamel postage stamp, so the precious item could always be returned to its owner. And the writer Truman Capote gave his Cartier Tank watch to a lucky journalist who was interviewing him, telling him to "take off your terrible watch and put this one on". When the journalist attempted to refuse the generous gift, Capote insisted that he keep it, simply telling him to "just take it, I have at least seven at home".

Like many purveyors of luxury goods, Cartier's proprietors know well enough that there's nothing better for business than the A-list seal of approval. And this doesn't get much better (especially when it comes to jewellery) than endorsement by Elizabeth Taylor, who was the recipient of one of the jeweller's most famous pieces.

In 1972, on Taylor's 40th birthday, her then-husband Richard Burton presented her with what is now known as the Taylor-Burton diamond. The world's first million-dollar diamond – Burton purchased it for a record 1,050,000 – it was a whopping 69.42 carats, and following the couple's divorce was auctioned by Taylor for 5 million – the money was used to build a hospital in Botswana.

That a hospital can be built for the price of some of these pieces is a sobering reminder not only of how valuable, but of how grossly frivolous they are. Take the gaudy-yet-beautiful crocodile necklace commissioned by Mexican film star Maria Felix, who walked into the company's Paris store and presented a live baby crocodile as a model for the piece. Cartier's craftsmen delivered with a chunky necklace featuring two entwined crocodiles and set with 1,023 diamonds and 1,060 emeralds. The same actress also commissioned a completely articulated diamond serpent necklace, which was hinged so that it moved in the same way as a real snake.

Then there's the pearl-encrusted poodle brooch designed for Grace Kelly, the "cursed" Hope Diamond for socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, the hand-held spectacles designed for Wallis Simpson and embellished with a tiger, and the endless vanity cases, novelty brooches, brush sets and commemorative pieces, each of which seems to be more opulent than the last.

So why did Cartier capture the heart of America in the 20th century? Perhaps because the designs made little attempt at subtlety or modesty in an era when the country's nouveau riche had cash they were desperate to spend on trinkets that would get them noticed. American heiresses wore the kind of decadent tiaras that had previously been reserved for royalty, and even the Great Depression didn't prevent them from investing in the finest jewellery money could buy. In 1929 alone, for example, Lady Cunard, wife of the heir of the Cunard steamship fortune and a pillar of New York society, placed an astounding 43 orders in Cartier's New York store, commissioning pieces including four grand diamond-set necklaces, two diamond bracelets and a diamond and emerald brooch.

Perhaps America's wealthiest were also attracted to the classic nature of the pieces. In their timeless grandeur, they look as if they could have been passed down through generations of aristocracy, not commissioned by, say, the heir to the fortune of an immigrant who had happened to strike gold. Even in the early 20th century, Cartier favoured a traditional, almost old-fashioned aesthetic. During the period when art nouveau designs were very much in fashion, Cartier stood out by eschewing it completely in favour of the much more conservative, grand and classic Louis XVI style, and even today the brand's aesthetic has changed very little.

As with couture clothing, from the 1950s onwards demand for pieces created to exacting personal specifications began to wane, and yet regular commissions from a few very wealthy clients allowed this area to remain the backbone of the business. Orders for some of the company's most extravagant pieces also went into decline following the Second World War. The popularity of Cartier's Mystery clocks, for example – in which the hands appear to float around the dial without a mechanism – peaked between the two world wars. These were truly decadent pieces in onyx, gold, crystal, platinum and diamonds, and are to Cartier what the eggs are to Faberg, each one taking up to a year to manufacture.

The company was also responsible for a number of prominent firsts in jewellery design. It was the first to set gems in platinum and the first to set baguette-shaped diamonds. In 1904 the brand invented the men's wristwatch after Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont complained that pocket watches were cumbersome, inconvenient and unreliable when flying.

In addition, many Cartier pieces remain iconic. In 1917, inspired by the impenetrable war machines fighting on the Western Front, the Cartier Tank watch was created. It survives in the 21st century, with more than 30 versions still being made.

So where does this leave the brand today? Stars still clamour to wear Cartier creations, with actresses including Rachel Weisz, Rene Zellweger and Jessica Alba all sporting them on the red carpet. They are joined by rappers attracted to Cartier's famous bling and instantly recognisable name – everyone from Jay Z to the rather less well-known Lil Scrappy has namechecked Cartier in their song lyrics.

In 2001 the mayor of New York named the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street – where the famous store is located – Place de Cartier, and in 2005 the Elton John Aids Foundation got together with the famed shoe designer Jimmy Choo to create Four Inches, a glossy tome in which some of the world's most beautiful women – including Heidi Klum, Kate Moss and Elle Macpherson – posed for photographers wearing nothing but a pair of Jimmy Choo heels and lashings of Cartier jewellery.

And while Marilyn may have known that diamonds are a girl's best friend, Elton John knew that only Cartier would truly do, paying homage to the luxury brand in the lyrics and title of Cartier:

If your life is dull and dreary

And you're feeling rather weary

Of the mundane things that clutter up one's life

Drive your roller up to Bond Street

Where royalty and Sheiks meet

Make your day

Here's the thing to do

Spend a grand or two at Cartier

Today there are more than 160 Cartier boutiques spread over five continents – quite an achievement for a jeweller that broke boundaries by expanding abroad in the early 20th century. Yet now, more than 150 years since the brand was launched, it's clear that Cartier still sparkles. r

Cartier and America (Prestel, 19.99)

This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday, January 31, 2010