Inspired by his love of picking four-leaf clovers and handing them out to his employees, Jacques Arpels used this lucky charm as the hallmark of the Alhambra Collection. Arpels' first design was unveiled in 1968 at a metamorphic time in history when the women's liberation movement was emerging and the jet-set elite was making the most of the rise of commercial travel flying from one glamorous destination to the next. The first Alhambra creation was an exquisite long necklace embellished with 20 creased-yellow gold four-leaf clovers and distinctive beading, and it became a much-celebrated token of luck.

The Maison launched La Boutique in 1954 as an innovative way of creating more accessible jewellery crafted from semi-precious gems and hard stones, in the hope that it would attract a younger clientele. The idea worked, and alongside that younger demographic Van Cleef & Arpels found that its already established clientele was snapping up these jewels too. The Alhambra Collection was originally sold under La Boutique and quickly became an icon of the brand. High end but more affordable than their whimsical and elaborate pieces, an Alhambra jewel is seen as an enduring symbol of luck, style and class.

Fast forward to the 1970s and the Alhambra started to take shape in many different variations. Hard stones such as gloriously green malachite and deep blue lapis lazuli were introduced to the famous four-leaf clover design. Later on, came coral, tiger's eye and turquoise and then mother of pearl, carnelian and blue agate. Van Cleef & Arpels' clientele loved to layer their Alhambra necklaces with the many different gemstone choices. Grace Kelly was a famous collector of this symbolic design and had pieces from the collection in coral, tortoiseshell, rock crystal and malachite.

Today, you'll find the ornamental Alhambra Collection in the shape of rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces that look equally beautiful worn alone as they do when stacked. Vintage Alhambra remains faithful to that very first necklace where symmetry was key and size was always identical. Today, Alhambra consists of capsule collections that play with size, shape and materials in imaginative ways.
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Launched in 2006, Magic Alhambra is bold, beautiful and asymmetrical and is crafted from the likes of everything from white gold and diamonds to tiger's eye and carnelian. That same year, Lucky Alhambra and Byzantine Alhambra were introduced - the former introducing new motifs inspired by nature including butterflies, hearts and stars and the latter crafted purely from yellow gold and blending both solid and openwork structures. Finally, in 2007, Sweet Alhambra was introduced, giving a more delicate touch to the designs by featuring those iconic motifs in miniature form.