Once every decade, Chanel's fine jewellery creation studio revisits the only precious jewellery collection made by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in 1932. Here's this year's heavenly reimagining...
While the world suffered during the sombre times of the Great Depression in the beginning of the 1930s, Coco Chanel decided to showcase a collection of diamond jewellery – gemstones she had otherwise not been particularly fond of. Until then, she had expressed her clear preference for less expensive coloured stones and imitation pearls as seen in her costume jewellery collections. Yet, Chanel allowed herself to be persuaded by the London Diamond Corporation to yield her influence within the fashion world to help restore the diamond market to its former lustre.
Chanel’s Bijoux de Diamants – which literally translates into 'Diamond jewellery' – was the world's first high-jewellery collection, and the only one made during Chanel’s lifetime. In 1932, large pieces of jewellery were otherwise only made to order. Applying the fundamental principles of her haute couture creations to the jewellery, Chanel made a point to give women’s bodies freedom and adorning them at the same time. "Nothing could be better for forgetting the crisis than feasting one’s eyes on beautiful new things, which the skills of our craftsmen and women never cease to unveil”, she was quoted as saying in an article in L'Intransigeant, on October 26, 1932.
The Allure Céleste necklace, the collection’s signature piece, includes round-cut diamonds and an oval sapphire. The halos detach to become brooches, while the central row of diamonds becomes a bracelet. Photo: Chanel
Whether the inky expanse of the night sky over Paris was covered with shooting stars, a flaming sun during a hot summer day, or the halo of a crescent moon, heavenly bodies were the source of inspiration for the Bijoux de Diamants collection. The pieces were made of platinum and yellow gold, set with colourless and yellow diamonds and were like dazzling distillations of light. The motifs were the Sun, the Moon, comets and shooting stars, along with fringes, bows, and feathers.
The jewellery itself was designed without clasps, as these would have impeded the freedom of women’s movements – yet it was transformable to ensure maximum wear. Worn directly on the skin, great care was taken to ensure that the jewellery had a supple and often open construction. Chanel left the styling of the pieces up to women themselves. If they wanted to don the jewellery on outfits or in their hair, or perhaps mix day and night by combining the sun with comets and the moon, it was entirely up to them.
The Comète Volute plastron and bracelet feature the brilliance of two colourless and yellow oval-shaped diamonds, each with a symbolic weight of 19.32 carats. Photo: Chanel
This brooch is set with a 3-carat marquise cut diamond flying beyond the moon against a starry sky, and a necklace set with a delicate crescent moon to light up the face, the Lune Éternelle set features a rising moon, with its round-cut diamonds and pearls diffusing a luminous and soft radiance. . Photo: Chanel
The Sun’s blazing splendour is expressed here in a combination of yellow diamonds and yellow sapphires set in yellow gold . Photo: Chanel
When Chanel’s jewellery department was created in 1993, it was firmly anchored in the vision, spirit and creative impulse from the Bijoux de Diamants high-jewellery collection. The new 1932 high-jewellery collection follows the trajectory set by Gabrielle Chanel 90 years ago. As a perfect parallel in time, the world is once again emerging from a global crisis – and once again, opulence, multifunctionality and heavenly creativity has been deemed necessary.
Branding efforts are peaking through – the setting of a sapphire with the exact weight of 55.55 carats and two diamonds, each with a weight of 19.32 carats – and in 2022 it is once again important to celebrate freedom and choices of all kinds. From the legendary original collection, Patrice Leguéreau, director of the Chanel's fine jewellery creation studio, has retained the theme of the celestial bodies, the purity of the lines and the freedom of the body, declaring: “I wanted to return to the essence of 1932 and to harmonise the message around three symbols: the comet, the moon, and the sun. Every heavenly body shines with its own light.”
Photo: Chanel
Out of 77 spectacular creations, 13 are transformable – wrapping around and resting freely against the skin. Star-studded coils can be twisted around the wrist at will to create unique constellations. Sapphires as blue as the night, diamonds as yellow as the blazing sun, opals as deep and intricate as a galaxy, along with rubies of a vibrant red, spinels glowing like dawn, and tanzanites with the colour of the skies. If the original collection was almost entirely pristine, the new 1932 collection gives pride and place to colourful joy-giving gemstones.
And finally, in the middle of all the sumptuousness, a decidedly whimsical piece: the brooch 'Satellite Harmonie' – demonstrating that the Chanel's fine jewellery creation studio is just as (post-)modern as we could wish for.
The Satellite Harmonie brooch. Photo: Chanel