Isabel Canovas Maison Gripoix “Lady Face” Bracelet

Isabel Canovas was Paris couture’s best-kept secret — a designer whose accessories the fashion houses coveted and collectors now chase relentlessly. This 1980s bracelet is her masterpiece in miniature: three strands of Maison Gripoix gold-foil glass beads in brown, green, and blue, gathered at her iconic “garden lady” face rendered in gold plate. Gripoix is the legendary Parisian glass atelier that supplied Chanel and Dior; its hand-poured, foiled beads have a depth of color no machine-made bead can touch. Around them, the lady’s face gives the piece its wit and its signature — unmistakably Canovas, signed on the reverse behind the face. Ultra-rare and fully haute couture, it’s the kind of object that belongs as much on a shelf as on a wrist. For the collector who values the designer’s eye above the price tag, Canovas is a name to know, and this is her at her most enchanting.