Introduction
Elie Top is a French jewellery and accessories designer who worked with Alber Elbaz at Yves Saint Laurent before following him to Lanvin in 2001. He became a long-term accessories director and designed costume jewellery integral to the Elbaz-era silhouette.
Top later developed fine jewellery under his own name. The distinction between those autonomous objects and his Lanvin work is important: at the house, jewellery began in dialogue with Elbaz’s clothes and the wider womenswear system.
Design ethos
Top treats jewellery as architecture at the scale of the body. Metal, pearls, cords, grosgrain and articulated forms create weight and movement, allowing an object to complete a silhouette without disappearing into styling.
At Lanvin, dressmaking materials crossed into ornament and functional components became decorative. His contribution was collaborative but materially specific, and should not be replaced by a general attribution to the artistic director.
Disclaimer
Career history
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