“I feel very glamorous,” says the actor Phoebe Dynevor dramatically, with a gentle laugh. “I never really grew up seeing my mum wearing much jewelry, so it has always felt like a really special thing to me.” We are at a gala dinner at the Château Saint-Maur in Saint-Tropez, celebrating the unveiling of Louis Vuitton’s new high jewelry collection, called Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds. It’s the sixth collection designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof, Louis Vuitton’s revered artistic director of watches and jewelry, who has been in position since 2018.
Earlier in the evening, the newly engaged Dynevor—dressed in a cream woven crochet silk and wool dress from Louis Vuitton’s fall 2024 collection paired with a white gold, platinum, diamond and emerald Liberty necklace and earrings—sat next to her fiancé, the actor Cameron Fuller, and Amfitheatrof to watch an exclusive runway show, for which models had been adorned in the exquisite jewelry pieces and bejeweled gowns, created specifically for the occasion by Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of womenswear, Nicolas Ghesquière.
“I love how Nicolas always likes to empower a woman,” enthuses Dynevor. “He’s always looking for ways that are all about strengthening women and making them feel…” She pauses thoughtfully, searching for the right word. “Essentially, his designs and Francesca’s are less about sex appeal, and so much more about armor and embodying a character. A strong character.”
Of course, playing strong characters is slowly but surely becoming Dynevor’s raison d’être. After rising to prominence with her breakout role as Daphne in Shonda Rhimes’s Regency blockbuster Bridgerton, she left in order to appear in the psychological thriller Fair Play. While Dynevor acknowledges the “beautiful lift” the Netflix mega-hit gave her, she has no regrets about leaving at the height of its popularity. “I think when you’re drawn to a script, which I was with Fair Play, you just have that moment where you think, ‘This is my next job.’ And that was really exciting. Yes, it felt so different from Bridgerton, but both the script and the character, Emily, meant so much to me. It was like this mish-mash of all the things I came into the industry to do. Seeing people’s reaction to it… that was a very special moment in my career that I’m really proud of.”
In the couple of years she has held her role as a Louis Vuitton ambassador, this is the first time Dynevor has attended the unveiling of a high jewelry collection—and she got to see it up close and personal the day before the show. “There was this big pink champagne diamond,” she says, her eyes widening. “I have never seen anything like it. And Francesca is incredible. Hearing her speak about the collection and everything that goes into it is just amazing,” she says.
“Awakened hands, Awakened Minds sounds a little bit cryptic,” Amfitheatrof concedes with a smile. “But,” she explains, “it is inspired by a time in 19th-century France when there was an explosion of incredible talent. The ateliers were set free post the revolutions, the guilds were abolished and there was this enormous growth of the French know-how, a savoir faire. This is where luxury began. Everyone turned to France to come and see this incredible awakening of the hands.”
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