How does Chanel, a brand spanning a century, tell the story of classicism and innovation behind its fine jewelry collections on the runway?
After driving for half an hour on the winding mountain roads in Nice, France, the driver whispered in the night: "It's Monaco." It is hard to imagine that this tiny country of 2.08 square kilometers has such an amazing international influence today.
In the middle of the last century, Prince Rainier of Monaco married Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly, and the royal family has been working hard and making a name for itself. Monaco has a charming coastline for yachts to moor, and the rich like the tax-free policy here.
Every year, the F1 Monaco Grand Prix and the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters held on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo attract the attention of the world.
In June, Monaco is full of lush flowers and trees, and the sun is abundant. People wear loose light-colored clothes and sit outdoors to enjoy the breeze, the fragrance of flowers and fine wine. A century ago, Ms. Chanel was probably in a peaceful and relaxed mood here. She came to Monaco to watch a tennis match and bought land nearby to build a villa called La Pausa.
In 1913, she opened a millinery shop at the Hermitage Hotel in Monaco. And this time, we are gathered here to celebrate the launch of Chanel's Haute Joaillerie Sport high jewellery collection.
01
The latest collection was exhibited in a pure white "sports field", and a mini audience stand was designed on site with off-white seats. The space was originally a Baroque-style building, and the magnificent interior design surrounded the "sports field" in the center with simple colors and modern lines, where classic and modern elements complemented each other.
Patrice Leguéreau, Creative Director of Chanel’s High Jewellery Studio, said: “This sports-themed collection is inspired by the sporting style of Chanel, which is an indispensable style vocabulary in Chanel’s history: elegant lines and freedom of movement.”
The Haute Joaillerie Sport collection consists of 80 pieces divided into 7 chapters, which can be viewed from many different perspectives.
For example, each piece of work has Ms. Chanel's "code": the lion symbolizing Ms. Chanel's constellation is inlaid in the shield-shaped emblem, Chanel's favorite number 5 is presented in the font used for chronographs, or appears in unexpected places in various forms, and there is also the "mountain pattern" - Ms. Chanel first introduced the mountain pattern in her diamond jewelry series Bijoux de Diamants created in 1932.
From another angle, it is also clear that the spirit of "sports" is integrated into every piece. Whether it is the collar, drawstring, and zipper that simulate the sports sweatshirt, or the integration of sports mechanical structures such as carabiners and pulleys into the design, or the use of carbon fiber, a new material that is extremely important in the sports field.
In 2020, British journalist and jewelry expert Melanie Grant published a book, "Coveted: The Art and Innovation of High Jewelry", which focuses on some very unique jewelry pieces that are exciting in their innovation. Not conforming to the traditional jewelry formula, these innovations come not only from conceptual approaches, but also from craftsmanship, design and materials.
At the forefront of the jewelry world today, new materials such as titanium and carbon fiber are attracting much attention. The author proposes a combination of "precious metals, gemstones and high-tech materials", which is still a field that few people have ventured into.
02
The Haute Joaillerie Sport fine jewelry series may be Chanel's boldest creation in recent years. Patrice Leguéreau demonstrated his sensitivity to cutting-edge materials and his familiarity with many traditional materials.
The works include rare gemstones and precious metals, as well as materials that appeared relatively late in the history of jewelry, such as colored paint, aluminum, and ceramics. Carbon fiber is particularly prominent among them, with amazing performance but extremely difficult to process.
The diameter of the carbon fiber obtained through a special fiberization process is only 5 to 10 microns, and it has extremely strong properties such as high temperature resistance, friction resistance, heat conduction and corrosion resistance. Carbon fiber has been shrouded in mystery since its birth, and was later used to manufacture aircraft and spacecraft.
Today, it is used in racing cars, golf clubs, and sailboat masts, which are full of confrontation and collision, and has become an important role in the sports field.
Carbon fiber has already made the watch industry crazy, and it is just beginning to gain popularity in the jewelry industry. Using carbon fiber to create jewelry can reduce weight. For the same volume, the weight of carbon fiber is only one twelfth of gold and one third of titanium.
Carbon fiber gives jewelry extraordinary strength and wear resistance, and is biocompatible, making it feel comfortable on the skin. The deep black color of carbon fiber is calm and rich, giving it a sci-fi feel as if it came from space.
The most representative piece is a cuff bracelet made of diamonds, rubies and carbon fiber in the series. In a report by VOGUE Arabia, Patrice Leguéreau explained that the work uses carbon fiber as a "fabric" to cover the surface of the work.
The processing of carbon fiber is extremely difficult, and traditional mechanical cutting technology cannot achieve the desired effect. In order to "print" the six letters "CHANEL" on the outer surface of the work like lace, and the letters cannot be distorted, the craftsmen used laser engraving technology. The final work is exquisitely designed, well-proportioned, and fits comfortably to the skin, allowing women to wear it with ease.
03
CHANEL hosted a glittering dinner in Monaco, where British actress Keira Knightley wore one of the most gorgeous pieces from the Chanel Haute Joaillerie Sport collection.
She wore a blue, airy tulle dress from Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2024 Haute Couture collection, which echoed the 10.15-carat Kashmir sapphire at the center of the Graphic Line necklace.
This necklace is inlaid with white gold, platinum, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and onyx. Its shape is like an overlapping collar, with rectangular-cut rubies outlining the edge of the collar and white diamonds cut in different shapes paving a triangular shape, highlighting the most gorgeous blue in between.
Keira Knightley told British VOGUE that the necklace, which has a large volume, is so light that she can hardly feel it. "I feel like I can wear it home or even wear it to send my children to school," she joked.
The earrings, ring and necklace form a set, using a total of five Kashmir sapphires, the most precious sapphire in the world. Chanel began looking for the dream sapphire several years ago, and finally presented it to the world after forming a complete set.
Xin Zhilei, Chanel's brand ambassador, also wore a Quilted Stars necklace from the new collection at the event. The outline is like a simple small V-neck, with a mesh metal structure simulating a diamond pattern, an emerald-cut yellow diamond as the center, and a lacquered number 5 and a star pattern inlaid with sapphires on the "collar".
Gems may be another perspective to observe this series. The 80 pieces use a variety of gems such as sapphires, rubies, spinels, garnets, yellow diamonds, emeralds and onyx, with rich colors and large carats. The largest sapphire weighs 35.10 carats and is cut in a square shape and set in a ring.
The combination of gemstones of different colors with colored paint and anodized colored metal aluminum presents a bright and colliding effect in the works, such as the combination of emerald and blue paint, the combination of orange and green, and the simultaneous presentation of blue, red and gold on a single work, which reminds people of the bright and passionate color matching rules of sportswear.
The gemstones sparkle, while the new materials balance it out with a subtle hue.
The silhouettes of the pieces are based on ergonomic aesthetics, with lines that are full of energy and movement, highlighting the freedom of the body and the elegance of movement. One of the necklaces looks like the collar of a sports sweatshirt.
Chanel has specially developed a tubular chain called "sports drawstring" to become the golden drawstring of this jewelry "sweater". Sapphires outline the outline, white diamonds inlay the fabric, and red lacquer ring details are interesting.
Sports drawstrings are also cleverly used on earrings and necklaces, with details of different colors and materials such as black ceramic circles, green rings inlaid with emeralds or white diamonds, arranged in a tube shape and ended with a small black lacquered cylinder, which looks very much like the end of a sports drawstring.
The diamond-studded number 5 carabiner, the rotating buckle from Chanel's iconic 2.55 handbag, the roller skating device with a beautiful mechanical structure... these details give the works a dazzling transformation of wearing methods. One of the works even comes with multiple pendants, and you can add or remove pendants at will like a little girl playing with a beaded bracelet.
The sliding clasp is unique, such as this Gold Slider Black&White necklace, which is made of white gold with red and black lacquer, black and white fine ceramic, and inlaid with diamonds. The sliding clasp on the necklace can be placed at different positions on the chain, presenting 2 ways of wearing: double-loop short necklace form and long necklace form.
This Golg Slider ring is inlaid with diamonds in yellow gold. The center of the ring is reversible and can be flipped to the main stone side or the paved side to show different effects.
The handcuff bracelet made of carbon fiber is designed with four unique semi-circular arc structures. Two are made of classic silver-white white gold inlaid with diamonds, and two are made of dark black carbon fiber. You can choose any two arc surfaces to form a complete bracelet, presenting three bracelets of different styles.
The various convertible designs highlight the design concept of Chanel's fine jewelry: women can wear jewelry freely in the way they want.
04
Exactly a century ago, in 1924, Chanel designed costumes for the Ballet Russe’s “Blue Train”, working with Picasso. Instead of the traditional fluffy tutus, she designed lightweight knitted swimsuits, golf suits and tennis clothes for the dancers, allowing the ballerinas to move freely and gracefully on stage like athletes.
In this series, movement is expressed as a kind of "rhythm" with a beautiful rhythm. In the long history of jewelry, naturalistic works of the last century often expressed movement through images such as the fluttering wings of birds and butterflies and the breeze blowing through ears of wheat.
Today, when Chanel begins to tell a story with the theme of "rhythm", it expresses body awareness and freedom of movement, exuding a strong sense of modernity and breakthrough from the inside out.
Take sports sweatshirts as an example. They have never been known for their expensiveness and exquisiteness, but rather for their functionality and comfort. Chanel uses luxurious materials to express sports sweatshirts, which has a sense of contrast and challenge.
Jewelry has always been considered to represent preciousness and refinement. In the last century, when upper-class women wore jewelry to grand dinners, they were afraid that the jewelry would be bumped and would deliberately keep an upright posture. Jewelry quietly played the role of a restrainer.
This time, Patrice Leguéreau made the jewelry very light, using carbon fiber material that is not easy to wear. The rotating buckle and sliding lock structure encourage women to move and play with the jewelry.
It is hard to imagine that the origin of such unconventional fine jewelry creation still comes from Ms. Chanel. In 1921, Ms. Chanel founded a workshop dedicated to designing and making sportswear for her own haute couture brand. She abandoned the corsets that restricted women's bodies at the time, saying: "Nothing is more beautiful than a stretched body."
It is not difficult to see her consistent yearning for comfort and liberation in her fashion design. She took the materials of men's clothing into consideration, making the sailor striped shirt that allows for free movement a classic, and even the tweed jacket she got from the Duke of Westminster, all of which made women no longer restricted. She also loved sports, leaving behind precious photos of her riding horses and playing ball.
In the book "Coveted: The Art and Innovation of High Jewelry", the author points out that over the past 100 years, the top collectors in the jewelry world have evolved from royal family members to wealthy entrepreneurs in the 20th century, and today, it is the young global elites who are rising. On the other hand, women have more and more power in the creation and purchase of jewelry.
The Haute Joaillerie Sport collection, like sportswear, is closer to the natural structure of the human body, combining elegance of lines with freedom of movement. Patrice Lenguéreau presented a completely modern and even fantastic collection in Monaco. He skillfully used the various codes left by Coco Chanel to convey the spiritual consciousness of Coco Chanel a century ago.
He boldly combines the most classic and rare gemstones in the jewelry world with relatively unfamiliar technological materials, which makes people marvel at Chanel's courage to stand at the forefront. When you carefully "read" these 80 works, you will find that multiple clues are intertwined to form a free-flowing, extremely rigorous and logical network.
Every Chanel story has the same temperament and soul, pursuing physical freedom and gaining spiritual freedom.
Source: Lu Xi's interview notes