Chanel’s Latest High-Jewelry Collection Is Filled With Serious Sapphires and Diamonds
Coco Chanel was known, at least during the earliest years of her groundbreaking new style, for a certain kind of minimalism that gave women freedom of movement in a new silhouette and fabric. She was also rigorously dedicated to details and craftsmanship—an ethos the brand still carries on today.
Both of those aesthetic principles are inherent to Japanese culture, so it’s fitting the company’s latest high jewelryHigh JewelryHigh jewelry refers to the most exclusive tier of fine jewelry, typically one-of-a-kind or extremely limited pieces created using rare gemstones and exceptional, time-intensive craftsmanship techniques. Maisons present high jewelryGo to High Jewelry Glossary collection debuted in Kyoto this week, despite the fact that the pieces were anything but minimal. It is also a locale said to be especially loved by Patrice Leguéreau, the late designer of Chanel high jewelry who passed away in November of last year. The new Reach for the Stars collection marks the last of his work for the French house during his 15-year-long career at the helm.
The collection is unabashedly Chanel in its depiction of the maison’s enduring motifs. Mademoiselle Chanel’s lion mascot (a favorite of the designer, thanks to her astrological sign, Leo) was present in a collar necklace flanked on either side by two felines with diamonds that cascaded down the chest. Lions are also present in some of the scenery at the local Kyoto temples like the gold screen paintings at Nanzen-Ji. There were the shooting stars, also present in Coco Chanel’s first and only high jewelryHigh JewelryHigh jewelry refers to the most exclusive tier of fine jewelry, typically one-of-a-kind or extremely limited pieces created using rare gemstones and exceptional, time-intensive craftsmanship techniques. Maisons present high jewelryGo to High Jewelry Glossary collection in 1932. Others looked like starbursts, which paid tribute to the founder’s vision and while also appearing to pull inspiration from the headdresses of the 1,001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, from the Sanjusangendo temple in Eastern Kyoto.
This time around, however, Leguéreau incorporated a new icon. Wings were the inspirations for many pieces throughout the collection including the grandiose Wings of Chanel necklace set in diamonds and a massive 19.55-caratCaratCarat refers to the unit of weight used to measure gemstones and precious metals, with one carat equaling 200 milligrams, directly influencing a stone's overall value. While carat weight mattersGo to Carat Glossary Padparadscha pink sapphire, a series of brooches, or a tiara, to name a few.
Reach for the stars is, no doubt, an ode to the far east and, as a result, will likely elicit a stronger appeal to Chanel’s clients in that market. But it’s also the swan song of Leguéreau. While there have been no reports of the details of the designer’s passing, many elements of the thematics of the jewelry suggest he may have been thinking about the heavens during the creation of the collection. Or perhaps it’s simply a coincidence. Either way, it is a beautiful and fitting sendoff that is yet another recent mark of the end of an era at the house and the beginning of a new one.
This past December, Chanel appointment a new artistic director, Matthieu Blazy, who follows in the footsteps of Virginie Viard, who briefly took over the design reigns after the passing of the house’s longtime legendary designer, Karl Lagerfeld. Coco Chanel herself was a beacon of reincarnation having revived her brand against stunning odds in the post-WWII era. It was reinvented again by Lagerfeld. And, we have no doubt, it is on the brink of yet another transformation. The original vision, however, always remains true to its beginnings.
This article originally appeared in Robb Report US.