We caught up with fashion and beauty editor and consultant Virginie Dhello for our series of portraits of inspirational personalities. Today she heads her own agency, Vvee, and has had an impressive career since her early days at L'Officiel de la mode: five years with Glamour for the launch of the magazine, she then joined Air France Madame, where she was responsible for styling, image consulting, editing and set design for the biggest brands. Stamped "accessories", Virginie has the luxury of integrating her favourite jewels into the shootings. She shares her world via Instagram under the pseudonym Veepost.
Virginie Dhello
When it comes to jewellery, Virginie is far from being a layman. She describes herself as "born with a love of jewellery" and recalls for us one of her first passions: gemology, and her box of raw gems. On her first trip to New York, she heads to 47th Street, the jewellery district. The other pot in which Virginie fell very quickly is the antique one. In the evening, she likes to wear high fashion and in particular Céline pieces from the Phoebe Philo era that she hunts down. This taste for the old meets her eco-responsible convictions, and ours too!
Discover its assertive selection, combining strength and softness.
Confusing the genres
From the old, our editor likes the possibility of making a unique piece of jewellery her own... like her, like you! This identity is reflected in the ornaments Virginie wears - and never takes off: a V in her ear, another engraved on the signet ring on her right little finger.
She likes the "ultimate, iconic" character of this type of ring, which seems to give the wearer a super power. Could this belief be linked to the history of the signet ring? The latter dates back to the 12th century, when coats of arms were created for nobles, and by extension for knights. Today, initials have replaced coats of arms, but in some families the signet ring continues to be passed down from generation to generation, from father to eldest son.
Girly selection
Another reason why Virginie likes to make signet rings her own is because of gender confusion. In fact, she would like to see men get their hands on the eco-friendly nail polish she recently created in collaboration with Kure Bazaar. Notice to amateurs! The woman who likes to mix styles also defines herself as very girly. Her Instagram account is decorated with pink, or is it because she knows it's the star colour of spring 2022?
In any case, Virginie loves hearts, like the one tattooed on her wrist. She loves the fine workmanship of our Belle Époque model, which reminds her of Buccellati. As for the daisies, they are a timeless jewellery item. Moreover, Virginie is fascinated by the fine stone wedding ring on our ring, turquoise precious stones : diamonds. The latter, rose-cut, are her favourite and remind her of the rough diamonds given to her by her father for his collection as a budding gemologist.
Bourgeois hip-hop
The term bling bling, of onomatopoeic origin, comes from the vocabulary of American rappers and refers to the sound of "shiny gold chains" (do you have the ref.? 😉 ) clinking together. Beyond the identity character of the medal, it is the materiality and the matt noise of our Art Nouveau model that seduced Virginie. And she, who loves hip-hop culture, couldn't resist our half-Beyoncé, half-Hollywood glamour soft cuff, nor our bracelet adorned with emeralds and diamonds. Hip-hop indeed, but "bougie", a derivative of bourgeois as she likes it!
Play it like Cleopatra
When it comes to fashion, Virginie likes " statements ", i.e. the affirmation of oneself, particularly through accessories. Through our bracelet adorned with a chalcedony, she summons Cleopatra, whom she describes as the "ultimate sexy woman", and we won't say otherwise! We even refer to her as a figure ofempowerment in our article on the snake. Our bracelet is probably inspired by the queen herself, as there was a strong craze for Egypt in the 1920s, initiated by the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922. And by the way, this jewel is not worn on the wrist but higher on the forearm, giving it an absolute modernity.
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