Untraditional: How Jewelry Brands Messika, Unsaid & Menē Disrupted Paris Haute Couture Week

This season Paris Haute Couture Week sparkled with unaccustomed brilliance. New brands breaking into the rarified world of high jewelry are targeting a new generation of consumer keen to invest in gold and diamond pieces that speak their language and resonate with their aesthetic.

Menē is an online 24-carat gold jewelry and objets d’arts outfit where all pieces are priced by the gram. Prices vary according to the market with changes visible in real time on the product dashboard. A 20 - 30% margin is added to account for design and manufacture with the breakdown shown clearly on each item.

The five year-old publicly-listed company is the brainchild of Roy Sebag — man behind Gold Money, the likewise publicly-listed full reserve bank for investing in gold — and Diana W. Picasso, Pablo Picasso’s art historian grand-daughter.

Since Mēne launched in 2017, the value of gold has risen by 60% and over the same period, the annual company turnover increased from one million to 30 million.

“When the price of gold went up we thought we would sell less but in fact we sold more,” says Artistic Director Sunjoo Moon, explaining that people are viewing it as a good investment for exactly that reason.

During Paris Haute Couture Week they unveiled a solid gold chess set with pieces also sold separately as collectibles. The New York based company sources its gold from mines in the United States and Canada. It is currently setting up a distribution center in Paris to open up the European market.

For the record, Menē also accepts cryptocurrency. It has a certain logic.

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