Superstar and Chanel house ambassador Keira Knightley at the launch of Haute Joaillerie Sport in Monaco (All photos: Chanel)
It was because of legendary tastemaker and fashion doyenne Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s desire to “cover women in constellations” that Bijoux de Diamants was launched in 1932, the first and only high jewellery collection she personally created and presided over. Applying her undeniable haute couture credentials to that of haute joaillerie, the collection — fresh, exciting and groundbreaking — invigorated a gloomy Paris which, like the rest of the world, was just coming out of the Great Depression.
Approaching jewellery the same way she did clothing, her truism of l’elegance, c’est la ligne (elegance is the line) reduced everything to one key quality: allure. Up until then, the realm of storied gem purveyors, all with no less than a century’s worth of provenance, and their blue-blooded clientele was a closed clique, an elite world comprising aristocrats, nawabs and potentates and, as the Industrial Revolution forged ahead, newly minted business barons. But when word spread of Chanel’s 50 immaculately designed pieces, forged out of platinum and yellow gold, studded with white and yellow diamonds, and shaped to form dancing fringes, lightweight feathers, stars, comets, moons and suns, the world was enchanted.
chanel_print_ring.jpg
Among the jewellers, however, the audacious presentation by Mademoiselle (as Chanel herself is universally referred to) caused consternation and a veritable ruffling of feathers, particularly in the
1st Arrondissement and its Place Vendôme coterie. After all, how could a fashion designer dare to muscle in on the artisanal, timeless world of the jeweller? But ultimately, incredible design, flawless workmanship and the finest, most unique pieces created with Mademoiselle’s inimitable flair (and a little help from her friends — decorative arts illustrator Paul Iribe and poet Jean Cocteau — on the design and collection manifesto) won the day, resulting in the debut of a high jewellery collection that looks as timeless and innovative today as it did almost a hundred years ago.
Fast forward to the present, the house of Chanel, whose métiers now encompass every conceivable universe of luxury, has just staged its latest triumph — Haute Joaillerie Sport. In a year dominated by major global sporting events, it is charmingly oxymoronic to merge the two words — and indeed worlds. But Mademoiselle has always been the great innovator, be it in liberating women from stifling corsets by using materials that provided comfort and mobility (she was famous for appropriating traditional menswear fabrics like jersey and tweed in her designs) as well as helping popularise trousers for women. Defiant? Yes. Trailblazing? Definitely.
chanel_graphic-line-necklace_still-life_j65699_rgb-6-hd.jpg
And Haute Joaillerie Sport embodies these same characteristics. A high jewellery collection, it comprises 80 pieces — 19 necklaces, four brooches, 16 pairs of earrings, seven bracelets, 33 rings and one jewellery watch — spanning six distinct chapters: Graphic Line, Chanel Print, Quilted Icons, Sporty 5, Sweater, and Gold Slider. Unveiled last month in glamorous Monaco, at the new One Monte-Carlo retail district nestled in between the legendary casino the Hotel de Paris and the Hermitage, the collection is far removed from one’s traditional notion of what high jewellery is.
Those who know the life story of Mademoiselle, however, would be equally aware sport is very close to the designer’s heart. An accomplished equestrienne and tennis player, she had a line of sporting fashion established as early as 1913, a revolutionary move in a day and age when women were still stifled by enormous hats and cumbersome clothes.
Naturally, the rarest and most beautiful gemstones represented Sport in style, including a suite of five incredible Kashmir sapphires that took years to source alone. But what makes this collection outstanding is its bold and completely out-of-the-box approach, incorporating unconventional materials such as carbon fibre and aluminium. The result? Extraordinary gemstones set in groundbreaking designs.
Nevertheless, iconic symbols and motifs inextricably embedded in quintessential Chanel codes make their presence palpably felt throughout, including a lion head brooch (Mademoiselle was born under the sign of Leo and the beast remains her animal fétiche) set in a coat of arms, adorned with diamonds and rubies and red and black lacquer accents. Then there is the jaw-dropping Graphic Line necklace whose chevron motif references speed and movement while its clasp evokes the famous 2.55 handbag. The number “5”, another magic numeral honouring the house’s seminal first fragrance, also makes intermittent appearances, in both lace-like diamond-studded typography as well as the most special set of five star-shaped collector brooches.
chanel_brooch.jpg
Modularity is a characteristic that has been more prevalent of late in high jewellery. After all, it is undeniably more pleasing to have more than one way to wear a spectacular jewel. With 21 transformable pieces in the overall 80-strong collection, those with a penchant for prettiness as well as practicality should pay notice to the Sporty 5 black and white necklace which can be worn three ways, the green Sporty 5 necklace (with four ways to wear it), and the Gold Slider black and white necklace which you can have on long like a sautoir or looped twice around the neck.
Should you remain wary of ploughing a small fortune into bejewelled bibelots, it is heartening to remember that these treasures, deemed as the ultimate tools of adornment or self-expression, can and will only increase in value and worth exponentially as precious resources become rarer. Analysts also regularly remind us that high jewellery remains one of the fastest-growing market segments in the world. Dazzling, durable and finite, its return on investment keeps on rising at a considerable rate — a clear bonus in this climate of constant financial fluctuations.Which brings us back to that momentous day in 1932 when a visionary designer who single-handedly modernised women’s clothing decided to turn her astute gaze towards diamonds.
What many people are unaware of was that the idea was first proposed by the Diamond Corporation Limited of London, which wanted to reestablish itself after three years of a virtual standstill, the Great Depression’s unhappy outcome, which brought with it dizzying inflation, a marked decline in consumption and soaring unemployment rates. History books will tell you Diamond Corporation’s stock skyrocketed a mere two days after Mademoiselle unveiled her landmark Bijoux de Diamants, ushering in a glorious new age of jewellery-buying … and wearing. Now the great question: Does history repeat itself? We know it does. All the time.
This article first appeared on July 8, 2024 in The Edge Malaysia.
