ASSAEL Celebrates Gender Fluidity of Pearls and Coral, Elegance with Attitude ’23

Assael celebrates the all-gender sophistication of both pearls and coral with the launch of an all-new multi-media campaign. Debuting in the September/October issue of W magazine, the print campaign will include 4-color pages and spreads throughout this fall and the coming year in high-end publications like W, Town & Country and Architectural Digest. In addition, the half million dollar campaign will be supported by a cinematic brand video on YouTube and the Assael website, as well as in reels on all pertinent fashion social media platforms. Shot on location in Miami by fashion and beauty photographer David Benoliel, the new campaign features diversity of both gender and ethnicity, starring models Michaela Kocianova and James Lorenzo wearing Assael pearl and coral jewelry. Also filmed on video and drone by Tony Michel at a private beachfront estate, the campaign creative highlights “elegance with attitude,” focusing on the panache of contemporary luxury lifestyles. Assael Senior Vice President Peggy Grosz and longtime advertising agency Padulo Privé jointly conceived and produced the new campaign under the supervision of creative director Alison Goudreault.

“I think it can best be described as elegance with attitude, across generations, genders, and lifestyles,” said Grosz. “Assael, after all, coined the phrase ‘The Pearl Revolution,’ now an international jewelry and fashion phenomenon. As North America’s premier source of the most magnificent pearls in the world, it is time to explore our unrivaled quality and exciting new designs that show how the history and story of pearls has evolved.”

New Ways of Wearing Pearls
Renowned author and jewelry historian Vivienne Becker served as creative consultant for the campaign copy, noting, “Today, Assael pearls are conjured into exciting jewels of understated splendor and re-imagined elegance with charismatic individuality. Wear them in lustrous layers to resonate with echoes of the pearl’s regal past. Or clustered mischievously into joyful bubbles of light. Keep it pure, a single perfect pearl specimen teamed with a colored gemstone, hand-selected for hue and tone to work in perfect harmony, in powerful juxtapositions of shape and form. Endlessly versatile, the new Assael pearl collections offer infinite possibilities and fun ways to wear.”

New Bubbles by Sean Gilson for ASSAEL
Highlighted in the campaign are new pearl designs from the Bubbles Collection by Sean Gilson for Assael, classic Assael strands, sautoirs, earrings, and rings, as well as exciting new jewels from the Colors, Pairings, and Modernist collections. Worn by all genders with fresh, contemporary styling, the pearls come to life in both casual and couture designer attire, reflecting the elegance with attitude theme.

“Part of this new attitude is a subtle sophistication,” explains Grosz. “Sophistication can be simple…but simple is the hardest thing to do because there’s no place to hide. For example, at Assael we don’t add rows of diamonds around our pearls gratuitously; we are inspired by the beauty of the pearls themselves, as well as by the exceptional gemstones we pair with them.”

All-Gender Pearls
Pearls can be worn and personalized by the most understated of men, as well as by the fashion savvy. The campaign includes pearl strands, brooches, and a single earring being worn by male supermodel James Lorenzo in both business and casual attire. The classic pearl offers a laid-back interpretation of elegance with attitude, for all genders. Becker notes, “Assael is helping men turn the tables, embarking on a whole new pearl adventure; opening another chapter in the long and scintillating saga of the pearl; revisiting and reinventing history, playing with traditions, challenging conventions, as only Assael can do.”

Conscious Coral
The campaign also features Assael’s exquisite, responsibly sourced coral – classic strands, as well as chic, innovative jewelry designs. Coral, precious, rare, and mystical, the color of a Mediterranean summer, is the pearl’s constant companion in the ocean’s rich treasury, and in Assael’s heart and soul. Becker explains the parity and differences between the two Assael treasures … “Both pearls and coral, in their own individual ways, are seductive, lyrical, both organic, both enmeshed in legends that reach back to antiquity. While the pearl is secretive, understated, quietly alluring, coral is extroverted, exuberant, and vibrantly hot-blooded!”

All Assael coral is responsibly sourced and does not come from reef corals. The precious corals used by Assael adhere to the strictest regulations and limitations on harvesting. The legacy brand’s longstanding commitment to the sea and to the health of the world’s oceans ensures that only ethically and legally sourced coral is used in the creation of Assael fine jewelry.

Celebrating the natural beauty, relevance, and easy sophistication of pearls and coral makes this new campaign both effective and alluring, because it is often better to glow than sparkle.