{"id":2061757,"date":"2026-06-18T11:14:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/2026\/06\/18\/messika-and-the-masculine-diamond-what-jules-koundes-choice-says\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:15:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:15:39","slug":"messika-and-the-masculine-diamond-what-jules-koundes-choice-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/2026\/06\/18\/messika-and-the-masculine-diamond-what-jules-koundes-choice-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Messika and the “masculine” diamond: what Jules Kound\u00e9’s choice says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For its Summer 2026 collection, the Parisian fashion house is entrusting its diamonds to an FC Barcelona defender. With the World Cup just a few months away, this move goes beyond the campaign: it shifts the narrative of fine jewelry toward the man himself. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

A villa near Barcelona, an unbuttoned shirt, flared jeans, cascading necklaces: Messika\u2019s summer campaign draws its inspiration more from 1970s fashion than from jewelry advertising. In front of the camera of the duo Louise and Maria Thornfeldt, soccer player Jules Kound\u00e9 wears rings, earrings, and long necklaces without regard to gender norms. The image evokes a certain vision of masculine style\u2014that of Lenny Kravitz, embodying elegant and nonchalant rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. This isn\u2019t just a styling detail: it\u2019s the campaign\u2019s central theme. <\/p>\n\n

A young company that dares to take a different approach<\/h2>\n\n

Founded in 2005 by Val\u00e9rie Messika, the House has built its legacy over the past two decades on a simple intuition: to free the diamond from solemnity, to make it versatile, almost an everyday accessory. Its design language\u2014the stone that glides, that is never quite fully set, that moves with the body\u2014has established a diamond for daytime wear, freed from the ritual of the jewelry box. Entrusting this aesthetic to a man is therefore not a betrayal, but an extension: if the diamond can be casual, it can also be masculine. <\/p>\n\n

The choice of Jules Kound\u00e9 is by no means opportunistic. Season after season, the international defender has established himself as one of the most closely followed figures in the fashion world, a regular at runway shows and on magazine covers\u2014where one\u2019s wardrobe matters just as much as one\u2019s list of achievements. By placing him at the center of its campaign, the fashion house isn\u2019t simply recruiting a celebrity\u2014it\u2019s validating a path he\u2019s already embarked upon: that of the athlete who has become a style influencer. <\/p>\n\n

The Diamond as Neutral Ground<\/h2>\n\n

That is the cultural issue at stake. Men\u2019s fine jewelry has long been kept to a minimum\u2014a watch, a signet ring, cufflinks\u2014as if gemstones were still the exclusive domain of women\u2019s fashion. The campaign takes the opposite approach without making a point of it: it shows a man adorned with multiple pieces of jewelry, without the image making it seem like a transgression. Here, the diamond becomes a neutral ground, a matter of style rather than gender. It is as much a sociological shift as it is an aesthetic one, and it speaks to a generation for whom fashion no longer has rigid boundaries. <\/p>\n\n

<\/strong>The campaign was photographed in a villa on the outskirts of Barcelona by the duo Louise and Maria Thornfeldt. The stylistic approach\u2014an unbuttoned shirt, flared jeans, and layered necklaces\u2014presents the fine jewelry in a portrait-like setting rather than as a still life in a jewelry box. <\/p>\n\n

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The Calendar as an Argument<\/h2>\n\n

Then there\u2019s the timing. Launching this campaign as the World Cup approaches means capitalizing on the convergence of two \u201ceconomies of attention\u201d: that of globalized sports and that of luxury. Today, top-tier soccer players are among the few figures whose image circulates simultaneously across every continent and in every language. For a brand that has built its visibility on high-profile ambassadors, this is a natural fit. Here, the diamond aligns with the soft power of soccer\u2014a vehicle of influence that few industries can still command on this scale. <\/p>\n\n

It remains to be seen whether this shift toward men\u2019s fashion will last beyond a single season, or whether it will be nothing more than a summer trend centered on a single face. The answer will be found less in the next campaign than in the store windows: the day a fashion house designs its men\u2019s lines from the very first sketch, rather than just for the sake of the image. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For its Summer 2026 collection, the Parisian fashion house is entrusting its diamonds to an FC Barcelona defender. With the World Cup just a few months away, this move goes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2061096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30122],"tags":[77932,77931,77756,77930,31704],"class_list":["post-2061757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-watches-and-jewelry","tag-jewelry-muse","tag-mens-diamond","tag-mens-jewelry","tag-summer-2026-campaign","tag-valerie-messika"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2061757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2061757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2061096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2061757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2061757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2061757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}