Spanish-French actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey, first captured our attention playing a mermaid in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Here, the high cheekboned beauty models Chanel’s latest Cafe Society High Jewellery collection as she talks to emirateswoman.com about her love of collectors items. 
Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey is reclining on the Art Deco tiled floor of the newly renovated La Piscine Molitor in Paris, laden with Chanel’s dizzying Café Society necklace encrusted with blue and yellow sapphires, vibrant red spinels, tsavorites, garnets and glittering-diamonds. “My jewellery box is bursting!” exclaims the doe-eyed beauty. “But most of my jewellery has more sentimental than monetary value, for example, my father’s silver bracelet, which I wear in his memory.”
That’s not to say she doesn’t appreciate more opulent pieces. “These are the most extraordinary pieces I’ve ever worn,” she says of the Chanel collection reminiscent of the roaring 1920s. “My favourite piece is the Morning In Vendôme necklace – it’s several pieces in one and is truly surprising.” “I’m not much of a girly girl, so I don’t dream of what jewellery I’m going to buy next,” admits Astrid. “But when I do buy myself jewellery it’s without an ounce of guilt – I don’t need to wait for a man to give me a piece.”
You’re more likely to find Astrid, 28, rummaging through antique markets unearthing gems from other eras though, than the fine jewellery boutiques in Place Vendôme. “I’m passionate about collectors’ pieces and can spend hours going through at the Dary’s on rue Saint-Honoré in Paris,” she says. “My most recent find was a pair of delicate earrings with angels on a ring.” “I feel you can pick up a real sense of history and feeling from, say, a piece from the 19th century. I’ll often help myself to the costume jewellery from a period film I’ve been working on as a souvenir.”
After 2011’s Pirates Of The Caribbean, Astrid went on to act in sci-fi indie flick I Origins and recently started shooting Guy Ritchie’s Knights Of The Roundtable: King Arthur, in which she plays the flawed heroine, Queen Guinevere. If the props department from this 12th century film notice some costume jewellery missing, they’ll know who’s taken it…
If you haven’t have enough Chanel for today, take a look at the S/S15 video for something 2015 inspiration.
