Tiffany & Co, the famed New York jeweller that last year hired Lady Gaga as its pitchwoman, has blown up analysts’ estimates for first-quarter sales and raised its full-year forecast for profit.

Shares in the company, made famous by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, surged 20% and were on track for their best day in more than 17 years.

The brand’s plan to target new millennial customers paid off with a China-led 28% jump in Asian sales and a strong 9% jump in its domestic US market. Sales in Europe were up 13%.

“With local customers the trend has been positive in every single region including Europe,” Alessandro Bogliolo, the chief executive, told Reuters.

Tiffany’s turnaround strategy involved not only targeting young consumers but lowering the cost of jewellery and introducing more items more often.

The turnaround was led by Reed Krakoff, the designer who turned the struggling leather-crafter Coach into a $5bn handbag retail giant.

Krakoff was hired to strip the 181-year-old company of its “Waspy” formality. He introduced a novel range called Everyday Objects, which included a $165 pizza-cutter and $425 protractors made of sterling silver.

A new range, Paper Flowers, includes platinum bracelets, pendants and earrings. The centrepiece is reportedly a diamond bib necklace dressed in 68 carats of round and pear-shaped diamonds. The bib necklace takes five months to make.

The designer told Business of Fashion it was “about stripping away all of the rules associated with fine jewellery”. Tiffany’s prices for the items range from $2,500 to $790,000.

Krakoff also signed Lady Gaga to front the brand before her Super Bowl half-time performance last year.

The 60-second commercial by British photographer David Sims and Welsh styling legend Grace Coddington had Gaga speaking unscripted about her creative process, the importance of self-expression and empowerment.

Tiffany & Co’s shares hit an all-time high of $125 on Wednesday.