When it comes to Mariah Carey's style, two words always come to mind: Extreme glamour. The singer has cultivated a distinctive look that's all of her own, defined by her figure-hugging sequin gowns and jaw-dropping diamonds. She even once joked that she's allergic to fluorescent lighting — that's how committed she is to her fabulous, diva-worthy aesthetic. It was only a mater of time, then, before Carey began designing her own jewelry pieces. This week, she announced that she is collaborating with the fine jewelry label Chopard on a special two-collection line. And in honor, Vogue took the opportunity to chat with Carey about the new venture.
Carey will soon be releasing two collections with Chopard, done in partnership with brand president Caroline Scheufele. Her first collection, titled simply Chopard x Mariah Carey, includes fine jewelry for evening that are all diamond-paved. Pieces include a large butterfly statement necklace, a butterfly ring, and angel-wing earrings all finished in 18-karat, Fairmined certified white gold. The second drop, Happy Butterfly, includes daintier, day-to-day pieces including cuffs, necklaces, earrings, and rings (also all shaped into butterflies).
The butterfly is a recurring motif for Carey. She's long worn butterfly jewelry, and it happens to tie into her album Butterfly's 25th anniversary this year. “It just happened to be the same time,” Carey tells Vogue. “This was not coordinated in any way!” The album was a career-defining moment for Carey, who credits the work for finding her own voice and style as an artist.
Given it was the singer's first time designing high jewelry pieces (she's had her own affordable jewelry line with HSN), Carey admits there was a learning curve in the process. “It was an honor working with Chopard, and I learned so much during the creation of the pieces. It was a truly creative process,” says Carey. “It was a very non-corporate thing. They're such a major company, but we weren't asking anyone's permission for what they thought was the best idea. It very off the cuff.” Below, Carey talks with Vogue more about what went into her new jewelry designs, what you could find inside her jewelry box, as well as what her career-defining album Butterfly means to her today after 25 years.
Thanks for chatting on this gloomy, rainy day! Are you in New York?
Yes, I am. Typically I'd still be sleeping, so I just found out it's raining. I actually love New York in the rain. I know that sounds like a lyric from a standard or something. But I do. It's not Paris in the rain, different vibes, but I still love it.
So to start, tell me about how this collaboration with Chopard came about.
I met Caroline [Scheufele, the president of Chopard] a couple years back, and she was just the most fun, festive person ever. Then, as one does, I was celebrating Christmas well after it was over — it was well into January — and I noticed there was a gift under the tree that I hadn't opened yet. It was from Chopard: It was a beautiful silk scarf with a butterfly pattern on it, and a handwritten note from Caroline. At that moment, I was super excited because one of my songs was about to go diamond, and I really wanted to do a collaboration with a diamond company. When this happened, I just said, “Let me try it and see if there's any interest.” This was two years ago, so I thought they would want to do some sort of Christmas thing; I was suggesting [designs of] snowflakes. But she was like, “No, we want les papillons — we want to do butterflies all year long!”
What are your favorite pieces from the collection you guys made together?
As we were first on the phone, Caroline started sketching this gorgeous butterfly necklace, and it's still the most memorable moment for me in this collaboration. The symbol of the butterfly became synonymous with me and my fans, because of my album Butterfly. With the earrings, I also love that one side is one wing and the other is another wing, then it's dripping down with diamonds. With the Happy Butterfly collection, you can be completely [casual with it]. For me, it's with jeans and a white shirt — like you see in the picture of me with my dog.
He's so cute!
That's my dog, Mutley. He made a cameo. That bracelet is gold, and I feel people will stack it. I was like, “I'm gonna need several — we're going to be stacking this!”
The collaboration does come at a perfect time, given your album Butterfly celebrates its 25-year anniversary this year. What does that album mean to you now?
It really is the fan-favorite out of all my albums. I mean, it's debatable — people also like The Emancipation of Mimi. They were two different moments of freedom and emancipation. Butterfly represented an era of my life that I had to exit. I entered the music business as a teenage 19-year-old girl, and then being in a situation that was very stifling and very difficult, I had to evolve and gain the strength to realize that I had to get out of that. When I was creating the Butterfly album, I was using it as a metaphor to fly and to be free, and make the type of music that I wanted to make. There was a lot of criticism from people who clearly weren't listening to the same music I was listening to. They were like, “Why is she trying to be a hip-hop artist?” The corporate morgue, as I call it, didn't get it. But to my diehard fans, that album represents more than just, “She was doing a hip-hop record with rappers.” It's a very important album in terms of the scheme of my life. When I look back on it, my entire life really went into that album. If I didn't have that, I don't know if I would have been able to leave the situation I was in.
“Honey” from Butterfly is definitely my favorite song of yours.
Yay! Thank you. We're re-releasing [the video] in 4K, it looks so much better.
I have to ask: Do you still have all of your Tom Ford-era Gucci from that video?
Oh my gosh — how much did we love that moment, though? The swimming in heels… I destroyed those shoes. Nobody even had them yet. Do I still have those? I have them somewhere, yes. I better have them, otherwise clearly nobody was doing their job.
I get the sense that you're a big jewelry collector in general. Are you?
What would make you think that? [Laughs] No, I am. But I stopped buying jewelry for myself a little while ago. I have pieces that are very sentimental to me, and there are vintage pieces that I love. Some people need a new look every day, but if something is a signature piece that I always wear, then I just wear it — it's sentimentality of it all for me. But I am a collector of jewelry, and I do need to get a new jewelry case, if you know anybody. Mine is filled up, and I need a new one. I actually had this beautiful, vintage black and white Prada jewelry box, and then it just became too small. And I graduated to this other one.
Jewelry can be a very sentimental thing — family heirlooms, even. I'm wondering if you've starting thinking about any pieces in your collection that you will pass down to your children?
Thinking of things? Since my daughter was two-years-old — she's 11 now — she's been deciding which pieces would be hers. She'd wear my high heel boots as a two-year-old, traipsing around in my lingerie closet. The boots were higher than her legs. I have a video of this — I was like, “What are you doing? What are you wearing?” And she goes, “My boots.” And she's definitely clearing her decks for the diamonds.