Heroine chic: Coco Chanel's feminism shines through high jewellery collection
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Heroine chic: Coco Chanel's feminism shines through high jewellery collection
Flexible, mobile and versatile, the ane.5 collection is every bit as mod and empowered as the wearers information technology was created for – as Coco Chanel has intended since 1932.
One of the principal features of the 1.5 Camellia drove is its transformability. The camellia motif of the Rouge Incandescent necklace can exist discrete and worn as a brooch. (Photo: Chanel)
27 Feb 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 x:18PM)
Last week, when Chanel appear Virginie Viard as creative managing director of the brand post-obit the passing of Karl Lagerfeld, it marked the return of a woman as head of the House.
Lagerfeld's decades-long reign meant that not since Firm founder Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel'southward stewardship had there been a woman in charge.
This is non entirely insignificant. Famously outspoken, and forever challenging stereotypes, Coco Chanel'southward daring marked her every bit a feminist. She was a disruptor, and one of the first to play – and win – at the game. In a Time'south Up / #MeToo earth, with figures like Brie Larson'southward Captain Marvel advocating female empowerment, it seems almost a karmic coincidence that Viard is now at the helm.
2 days after Lagerfeld'due south passing, Chanel staged a preview of its latest 1.5 high jewellery collection for global VIPs at an exclusive airtight-door effect in Singapore.
Lagerfeld and Viard had fiddling to do with the drove – the brand's Watches and Jewellery division is managed past a separate creative team.
But what stood out was the spirit of the collection: Feminine all the same assertive, bold with a repose confidence. Characteristics associated with Coco herself, who, every bit early as the 1910s, was already championing assertiveness and encouraging women to free themselves from societal norms.
Blossom POWER
The collection is an ode to the camellia – Chanel'southward favourite flower and a symbol of the Firm. One of the main features of the 1.five collection (one camellia, five allures) is its transformability. Of the 52 pieces of jewellery, half tin can be taken apart and converted into another article of clothing.
The white gold Rouge Incandescent necklace with rubies and diamonds (principal picture and below), for instance, has a detachable camellia motif that may be worn as a brooch.
Likewise, the Revelation Diamant necklace in white gilt and diamonds – the collection'due south well-nigh valuable piece, costing S$six.495 million – has a detachable camellia motif that doubles up as a brooch, allowing the necklace to be worn either long or brusque. Other pieces, such every bit bracelets and watches, are similarly versatile.
Chanel always wanted her jewellery to be as liberating as possible, explained Marianne Etchebarne, Chanel's Global Head of Watches & Fine Jewelry Production Marketing & Communication. "One-half of the pieces in this High Jewelry [sic] Collection are convertible, offering the freedom of at to the lowest degree five looks: 1 single blossom, five ways to wear information technology.
"Mademoiselle Chanel used to say, 'My [jewels] are flexible and detachable... Life transforms it and bends it to its needs'," Etchebarne told CNA Lifestyle in an e-mail interview.
Having transformable pieces meant that Chanel's jewellers had to devise discreet mechanisms to let the parts to be easily removed and reattached, while maintaining the simplicity of the overall jewellery design.
"One main technical characteristic seen in this collection was to accept perfectly incorporated fastenings that can be clipped and unclipped to invite women to wear the pieces in the way they want, easily," added Etchebarne.
Not surprisingly, the most challenging piece was the Revelation Diamant necklace, which required more than ane,400 hours of work "in order to get the best suppleness and to highlight the stones so that, at the finish, nosotros barely see the metal".
What defines the collection is the attention to detail. When wearers remove the detachable parts, what lies below isn't a bare skeleton but fully finished metalwork – in some cases paved with diamonds and/or rubies. This is so that each jewel feels complete at all times.
COCO CHANEL: Rebel WITH A CAUSE
Since 1932, when Chanel staged her very kickoff jewellery exhibition, mademoiselle's message had been one of disruption.
Parisian society ladies of the fourth dimension were accustomed to wearing full sets – matching tiaras, earrings, necklaces, pendants, bracelets and rings – as well as donning either fine jewellery, or costume jewellery, depending on the occasion. Never the twain shall run into.
Casting the rule book aside, Chanel introduced elements of both costume and fine jewellery to her collections, and persuaded her clients to vesture their jewels every bit they pleased. A 1936 photo (above) shows her with multiple strands of pearls draped nonchalantly across her back, a revolutionary thought to women who hitherto wore single strands of pearls, typically draped across the collarbone or decolletage.
Chanel's costume jewellery pieces were made from non-precious materials, such as glass, simulated pearls, rhinestones and not-precious metals. She was a big fan of rock crystal (colourless quartz), assertive in its healing properties. "She surrounded herself with objects in rock crystal in her apartment such as the chandelier, a crystal ball and a flower bouquet bundled on the desk," explained Etchebarne.
Rock crystal isn't typically used in high jewellery collections at other jewellery houses. But in the i.v drove, the humble material is given an instant status upgrade when placed alongside white gilded and diamonds. Witness the Cristal Illusion bracelet (higher up).
Rose quartz – another uncommon fabric in high jewellery pattern – likewise takes eye stage on pieces like the Quintessence Quartz brooch (below). To the untrained eye, the translucent pale pink stone might appear to exist acrylic.
Only the discerning wearer will know the truthful value of the stone, so immense in its size and remarkably gratis of inclusions. The stone has too been carved to resemble a camellia – no mean feat because its brittleness. A single error by the lapidary artist would cause irreparable damage.
Adding to its subversiveness, the 1.5 collection likewise masks its opulence on occasion.
This is most obvious in the Eclat de Diamant watch (below), which features an eight.02-carat rose-cut diamond atop the lookout man punch, partially concealing its face.
The rose cutting has been in existence since the 1500s. It was especially pop during the Art Deco catamenia, but roughshod out of favour for near of the 20th century. Because diamond-cutting techniques were much less sophisticated in the past, rose-cut diamonds lacked the optical fire of, say, brilliant-cut diamonds.
Rose cuts, even so, are admired by some connoisseurs for their warm, antique quality. Jewels with rose-cut diamonds resemble precious family heirlooms. On the Eclat de Diamant lookout man, it's as if Chanel'south artisans wanted the future owner to treat time as a private luxury, and to pass the watch down the generations.
Said Etchebarne: "If the best expression to tell the creation is with a rose-cutting diamond, we will do it."
An attitude that's perfectly in line with our rebel Coco's philosophy. "You live but once," she was quoted every bit saying, "you might every bit well be amusing."
READ> Fashion buzz: Afterward Karl Lagerfeld, what's adjacent for Chanel and Fendi?
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/style/chanel-high-jewellery-1-5-camellia-collection-singapore-238991
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