First created during the disco era, designs made by Cartier, Bvlgari and other marquee brands have since become timeless classics. ‘I was going to a party at least five nights a week,’ Renato Cipullo writes in an email from New York City, recalling his time in the city’s nightclubs. The designer moved here in the 1970s from his native Naples, beguiling late night revellers with his gems. ‘depended on the type of locale we were at and the ambience,’ he says when asked what jewellery he spotted beneath mirrorballs.

‘New York at that time wasn’t the safest place to wear jewellery, but despite that there was an eclectic presence of accessories. Between Studio 54, Le Club and El Morocco you would see a lot of chandelier earrings and big bold hard stone pieces but styled in a minimal way.’ Above all, it was a community of like-minded creators and muses that gave shape to jewellery that has enthralled generations since.

‘At that time, it was a very talented generation that had a sense of community. There was an innovative group of designers in every field which stimulated everyone to create more,’ Cipullo muses. ‘The nightlife was a big part of that because it was naturally how people socialised and discussed their creativity. This energy from that period is so unique to that time and I think the sense of freedom in many ways continues to inspire people to explore the nostalgia around it’. Cue Cipullo’s Revival line, and the business’ emblematic Splendente alphabet pendants.

Also on the dancefloors of ‘70s New York City was Elsa Peretti. A tastemaker, the Italian designer was introduced to Tiffany & Co. by her friend, the seminal American fashion designer Halston, and fashion editor Carrie Donovan. Peretti made her Tiffany & Co. debut in the autumn of 1974. It was a sell out success. Many of her designs are in production to this day, chiefly among them her group of Bone Cuffs. A platinum iteration comes pave-set with white diamonds, perhaps in a nod to mirrorballs.

In Italy, meanwhile, there was Pomellato. The Milanese maison was founded in 1967. In the ‘70s, chunky Pomellato chains and work in gold were captured by wild card fashion photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri. It’s this set-free spirit, and those chains, that today inspire Pomellato creative director Vincenzo Castaldo. ‘I was inspired by the creative attitude of the 1970s, a decade that celebrated individuality, freedom and self-expression. Those values are deeply rooted in Pomellato’s origins,’ he shares. ‘More than revisiting an aesthetic, I wanted to reconnect with a mindset: the belief that jewellery can be precious without being formal, powerful without being rigid, and deeply personal while remaining timeless.’

From Italy, too are the disco era-infused creations by Roman heritage name Bvlgari. Here, new Monete high jewellery creations include a pink gold necklace with mother-of-pearl elements, a dozen bronze coins, seven silver coins and many diamonds.

In 1977 Paris, Place Vendôme stalwart Chaumet unveiled its Liens d’Or collection. Designed by René Morin, Liens d’Or pieces – among them a necklace, a ring and a bracelet – were made from a double hollow gold thread with a hook, like a curved, tied knot motif. It’s a shape dreamt up by Morin to symbolise the bond between people. Chaumet produced iterations of the design to this day.

And also in Paris: Van Cleef & Arpels. The maison’s high jewellery creations from the time capture the effervescent energy of ‘70s nightlife with gems that capture and refract the light masterfully. Van Cleef & Arpels Audrey earrings are a contemporary reframing of what is aptly known as a sequin aesthetic, with nods to Paco Rabanne dresses and design sketches for earrings dated to the ‘70s. To allow the diamonds’ brilliance maximum impact, Van Cleef & Arpels artisans here used openwork construction.

Back to New York and the city’s fabled dancefloors. It was in 1969 that Cartier unveiled its Love bracelet, authored by designer – and Studio 54 habitue Aldo Cipullo. The screw-fixed bracelet remained a sensation on and off dancefloors for decades to follow and around the world. The fluid, flexible designs of the new Cartier Love Unlimited line follow suite.

What connects these pieces, from Cipullo’s pendants to Cartier’s Love bracelet, is their instinct for jewellery as a form of self-expression. Conceived in an era when fashion, music and nightlife collided, they remain remarkably at home in the present – enduring reminders of a decade that changed how jewellery was worn.