I love this necklace, with the rainbow and the cloud,” says the actress Thandie Newton. “There’s something so playful about it, yet also sexy and epic.” The design is from the new Titanium Black Rainbows collection made by her friend the jewellery designer Solange Azagury- Partridge, who she refers to as “Soly”. The pair met four years ago and became friends — and Newton has also become a loyal client.

As ever, Newton is way ahead of the style curve. What women now want from jewelley is serious, understated wow factor. Gone are the days of matchy-matchy parures: enter the single, carefully chosen, stonking piece of finery that grabs people’s attention, wrestles it to the ground and pins it there. No arguments, no deliberation; this stuff means business.

“It’s the equivalent of shoulder pads and 7in heels,” declares Rebecca Clarke, one half of the duo behind the online jewellery boutique Astley Clarke. “We have a lot of women buying for themselves — big, real gemstones. Powerful, strong, grown-up women want something with intrinsic value to make a statement — large and unusual stuff. They’re not buying pieces of plastic or ceramic; more like a huge, pink tourmaline necklace, or outsized Olympia earrings in turquoise, or a gold bird pendant that’s 8in across — there is no way that isn’t going to overpower every single other thing that you are wearing.”

Alisa Moussaieff, of the Bond Street-based Moussaieff jewellers, agrees that although business may not be booming, big statement pieces are generating huge interest from “people who are very self-confident”. Even Victoire de Castellane, the creative force behind Dior’s fine jewellery, a woman known for her can’t-miss-it creations, feels “protected by statement pieces”.

Then, of course, there is Azagury-Partridge, who is known for creating rings that can spin like a catherine wheel or that house secret compartments or that just make you laugh out loud. Now, though, she is taking heavyweight statement jewellery to a new lightweight level, thanks to a partnership with American Express Centurion, which has commissioned her to create a collection made from titanium to celebrate its 10th anniversary and its evolution into a titanium card. The result is the Black Rainbows collection. Titanium is a buzz word in the jewellery world, but the costs of working with it can be prohibitive. “The metal is not expensive,” says Azagury- Partridge. “But it’s hard to work with and mistakes cannot be rectified. You have to trash the whole thing.”

Still, what it does is turn a serious statement piece into something that packs a punch but feels as light as air. It has certainly won over Newton, who normally doesn’t wear a lot of jewellery. “It’ll just be if it feels right, as an end to a story of that look, that outfit, that evening,” she says. “I like to put on Soly’s stuff when I’m wearing a simple dress, so it’s actually all about her jewellery.”

In large part that is because, for her, Azagury-Partridge’s work “is not your typical Cinderella jewellery; it’s much more born out of modern art. I find it really empowering to wear. Often the events I attend are so corporate, it’s important to me that I am not one of the herd — I want to feel independent and rooted in myself at those times, so it’s vital to wear something that’s really me”.

Titanium Black Rainbows by Solange Azagury-Partridge for American Express Centurion; to order from December 9;solangeazagurypartridge.com

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