Heroine chic: Coco Chanel's feminism shines through high jewellery collection
Advert
CNA Lifestyle
Heroine chic: Coco Chanel's feminism shines through high jewellery collection
Flexible, mobile and versatile, the 1.5 collection is every scrap as modernistic and empowered as the wearers information technology was created for – equally Coco Chanel has intended since 1932.
I of the primary features of the ane.5 Camellia drove is its transformability. The camellia motif of the Rouge Incandescent necklace tin can exist detached and worn equally a brooch. (Photo: Chanel)
27 February 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 10:18PM)
Last calendar week, when Chanel announced Virginie Viard every bit creative managing director of the brand post-obit the passing of Karl Lagerfeld, information technology marked the render of a woman as head of the House.
Lagerfeld's decades-long reign meant that not since House founder Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel'due south stewardship had at that place been a woman in charge.
This is not entirely insignificant. Famously outspoken, and forever challenging stereotypes, Coco Chanel'south daring marked her every bit a feminist. She was a disruptor, and one of the start to play – and win – at the game. In a Time's Up / #MeToo world, with figures like Brie Larson's Captain Marvel advocating female empowerment, it seems nigh a karmic coincidence that Viard is now at the captain.
Two days afterwards Lagerfeld's passing, Chanel staged a preview of its latest 1.v high jewellery collection for global VIPs at an exclusive closed-door outcome in Singapore.
Lagerfeld and Viard had little to do with the collection – the make's Watches and Jewellery division is managed by a divide creative team.
Only what stood out was the spirit of the collection: Feminine notwithstanding assertive, bold with a quiet confidence. Characteristics associated with Coco herself, who, as early every bit the 1910s, was already championing assertiveness and encouraging women to free themselves from societal norms.
Blossom Ability
The collection is an ode to the camellia – Chanel'south favourite bloom and a symbol of the Business firm. I of the principal features of the 1.5 collection (one camellia, 5 allures) is its transformability. Of the 52 pieces of jewellery, one-half tin can be taken autonomously and converted into another wearable.
The white aureate Rouge Incandescent necklace with rubies and diamonds (main motion picture and below), for example, has a detachable camellia motif that may be worn as a brooch.
Likewise, the Revelation Diamant necklace in white gold and diamonds – the collection's most valuable piece, costing Southward$6.495 1000000 – has a detachable camellia motif that doubles up as a brooch, allowing the necklace to exist worn either long or brusk. Other pieces, such as 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 Product Marketing & Communication. "Half of the pieces in this High Jewelry [sic] Collection are convertible, offering the freedom of at to the lowest degree 5 looks: One single flower, 5 ways to wear it.
"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'south jewellers had to devise discreet mechanisms to allow the parts to exist easily removed and reattached, while maintaining the simplicity of the overall jewellery design.
"One chief technical feature seen in this drove was to accept perfectly incorporated fastenings that can be clipped and unclipped to invite women to habiliment the pieces in the way they want, hands," added Etchebarne.
Not surprisingly, the most challenging piece was the Revelation Diamant necklace, which required more than 1,400 hours of work "in order to become the all-time suppleness and to highlight the stones so that, at the end, we barely encounter the metal".
What defines the collection is the attention to particular. When wearers remove the detachable parts, what lies beneath isn't a bare skeleton but fully finished metalwork – in some cases paved with diamonds and/or rubies. This is and so that each precious stone feels complete at all times.
COCO CHANEL: REBEL WITH A CAUSE
Since 1932, when Chanel staged her very first jewellery exhibition, mademoiselle's bulletin had been i of disruption.
Parisian society ladies of the time 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 see.
Casting the rule book aside, Chanel introduced elements of both costume and fine jewellery to her collections, and persuaded her clients to clothing their jewels every bit they pleased. A 1936 photo (above) shows her with multiple strands of pearls draped nonchalantly beyond her dorsum, a revolutionary idea to women who hitherto wore unmarried strands of pearls, typically draped across the collarbone or decolletage.
Chanel's costume jewellery pieces were fabricated from non-precious materials, such equally glass, faux pearls, rhinestones and not-precious metals. She was a large fan of stone crystal (colourless quartz), believing in its healing properties. "She surrounded herself with objects in rock crystal in her flat such as the chandelier, a crystal brawl and a flower boutonniere arranged on the desk," explained Etchebarne.
Rock crystal isn't typically used in high jewellery collections at other jewellery houses. But in the i.5 collection, the humble material is given an instant status upgrade when placed aslope white golden and diamonds. Witness the Cristal Illusion bracelet (above).
Rose quartz – another uncommon material in loftier jewellery design – likewise takes centre stage on pieces like the Quintessence Quartz brooch (beneath). To the untrained eye, the translucent pale pinkish stone might appear to exist acrylic.
Only the discerning wearer will know the true value of the rock, so immense in its size and remarkably gratis of inclusions. The stone has also been carved to resemble a camellia – no mean feat because its brittleness. A single mistake by the lapidary artist would cause irreparable damage.
Calculation to its subversiveness, the 1.5 collection likewise masks its opulence on occasion.
This is near obvious in the Eclat de Diamant watch (beneath), which features an 8.02-carat rose-cut diamond atop the lookout man punch, partially concealing its face up.
The rose cutting has been in existence since the 1500s. Information technology was especially popular during the Art Deco catamenia, but fell out of favour for nearly of the 20th century. Because diamond-cutting techniques were much less sophisticated in the by, rose-cut diamonds lacked the optical fire of, say, bright-cut diamonds.
Rose cuts, nevertheless, are admired past 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 equally if Chanel's artisans wanted the futurity owner to treat time equally a private luxury, and to pass the watch down the generations.
Said Etchebarne: "If the best expression to tell the cosmos is with a rose-cut diamond, we will practise it."
An attitude that's perfectly in line with our rebel Coco's philosophy. "You live but one time," she was quoted every bit saying, "you might too be amusing."
READ> Mode buzz: Later on Karl Lagerfeld, what's next for Chanel and Fendi?
Recent Searches
Trending Topics
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/style/chanel-high-jewellery-1-5-camellia-collection-singapore-238991
0 Response to "Heroine chic: Coco Chanel's feminism shines through high jewellery collection"
Post a Comment