Few High Jewellery creations are as instantly recognisable as the Zip necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels. Conceived in the late 1930s at the suggestion of the Duchess of Windsor and realised in 1950, the design transformed an everyday fastener into a feat of technical and artistic mastery.
Functioning exactly like a real zipper, the articulated gold-and-diamond construction slides closed to form a necklace and fully fastens into a bracelet. It is ingenuity disguised as elegance, engineered with extraordinary precision by the Maison’s Mains d’Or to ensure fluidity, drape and seamless movement.
Over the decades, the Zip has been reinterpreted in monochromatic gemstones, archival reproductions and elongated couture iterations, yet its core identity remains intact. Equal parts wit and virtuosity, it occupies rarefied territory as both technical marvel and collector’s trophy.
More than jewellery, the Zip is proof that true innovation never dates.
