We met with comedian and columnist Sony Chan for our portraits of inspiring personalities. After "Different like everyone else", which was revived the following year and renamed "Different like you and me", "Princess without a kingdom", "Unlabeled" and "Again!", Sony has just returned from Hong-Kong where she presented her latest one-woman show.
Former radio commentator on France Inter and Oui FM, television with Stéphane Bern in the show Comment ça va bien ! and then with Frédéric Lopez for Folie passagère, singer, Sony does not have both feet in the same shoe and that's good, they are infinitely trendy this season! Because fashion is one of the many passions of our muse of the day. When she's not writing one of her shows, she's collaborating with brands (as evidenced by her lovely collection for Just Campagne released in the spring), shopping to feed her online store, designing jewelry and sharing her French lifestyle with her loyal Hong Kong community.
Sony Chan
It's not completely new for Sony to talk about her relationship with jewelry since she already wrote a book on the subject... in Cantonese! Because at Galerie Pénélope we are not yet fluent in Cantonese, Sony tells us that her book is about first times: the first ring her mother gave her for her ninth birthday, the jewel she bought with her first salary, the one for her first TV, etc. The jewel has always been part of Sony's personal and professional life, symbolizing every happy event. We're sure many of you will recognize your own relationship to jewelry 😉... right?
Sony loves the "couture" models inspired by the 90's fashion as much as the very delicate sets. Check out his selection: untagged!
Princess 2.0
Sony explains that the fantasy of the Western princess is very present among Hong Kong women. In Sony's tale, the latter is adorned with diamonds and fine pearls and chooses her own spouse. This is a change from Cinderella's prince whose father organizes a ball so that he can find the right match (got it?), or from Peau d'Âne's prince who makes all the young girls of the kingdom parade to the palace in order to check their finger turn! The Sony princess wears our delicate Charles X earrings and a diamond duchess ring. Around her neck is our Belle Époque heart-shaped pendant. Good news: the princess 2.0 didn't wait for her prince to buy jewelry, so why don't you do what she did?
Exotic influences
With a predilection for voluminous jewelry, Sony immediately spotted our cocktail ring adorned with an oval motif carved with flowers. She loves everything: the color, the shape, the refined work of the coral. We also find in this jewel the Japanese influence very present at the time Art Deco. As for our snake in turquoise enamel and our ring with a beetle, they both reflect the winds ofEgyptomania which blew on the West, but at two different times! First, in the 19th century following Napoleon's Egyptian campaigns: our necklace is typical of this period. Not only does it use the snake motif, which was very popular at the time, but the ophidian head holds a sentimental medallion. The beetle, for its part, dates from 60s/70s... just at the time of the release of the cult film Cleopatra (1963) with Elizabeth Taylor!
Objects with secrets
Sony reminds us of the history of its country of origin: a fishing port before becoming a British colony, Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997. The region therefore has few historical references compared to our old continent. Hong Kong is young, and even more so when compared to jewels that are almost 200 years old! Sony likes the fact that they tell a story but also that they can hold secrets, like this salt pendant opening in the shape of an amphora (in fact salts can be put in it whatever you want, especially since freed from the corset you don't risk fainting at any time) or this medallion that can hold a lock of hair or even a photo of your loved one!
Pastel colors...
Sony has a preference for pastel shades. She says she has a very instinctive connection to color, as if the obvious had happened in a previous life. And since she likes to match her jewelry to her outfit, she immediately notices our bracelet Art Deco as well as our signet ring both adorned with chalcedony, a stone with a milky blue-gray color that gives the jewelry a lot of softness.
...To the ruby!
In Hong-Kong, some of Sony's friends go to consult their "master" who, a bit like a Feng Shui practitioner, tends to harmonize energies... at the risk of dressing only in shades of green ! It is not one of them who advised her to opt for the ruby, nevertheless she allows herself only for some time. She loves the combination of gold and silver on our model, and of course this incredible Burmese ruby. And the precious stone red is not the only new thing Sony allows herself: she whispers to us that she recently fell for a leopard print garment... Camille, the founder of Galerie Pénélope, reassures her: combined with the ruby it's a sure thing! You should try it 😉
