Sandra‘s Closet

In 2020, tweed entered the world of CHANEL jewelry: a first collection of 45 exceptional pieces dedicated entirely to this fabric, reproducing its suppleness and subtleties through the skilful use of articulations. With «TWEED DE CHANEL», inspired by the richness of the tweed weaves and transforming tweed into a precious fabric, Patrice Leguéreau, Director of the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio, opened up a new chapter in CHANEL High Jewelry.

In 2023, Patrice Leguéreau returns to the magic of tweed for a second time, with the audacious creation of 64 new High Jewelry pieces. «For this new High Jewelry collection dedicated to Tweed, I wanted to go further in the interpretation by creating a veritable fabric of precious stones that is light and supple.»

Centerpiece of the collection is the «Tweed Royal» necklace. The yellow gold weave of the plastron necklace, intricately crafted and trimmed with a chain, is set with diamonds and a magnificent ensemble of 37 rubies. The lion’s head at its centre can be worn as a brooch or as a necklace on the plastron, while the magnificent 10.17 carats D FL Type IIa pear-cut diamond that adorns it, can be detached to be worn as a ring.

The «Tweed Royal» truly expresses the expertise, creativity and excellence of CHANEL High Jewelry. A true feast for the eyes. Below you can enjoy the making of photos to see all the amazing craftsmanship behind.

LoL, Sandra

Step 1 – Making a resin maquette to create the full shape of the «TWEED ROYAL« necklace.

Step 2 – Positioning of the pavé-set elements on the design for the «TWEED ROYAL» necklace, followed by polishing.

Step 3 – Checking and adjusting the articulations with set elements and resin rubies on the design for the «TWEED ROYAL» necklace.

Step 4 – Final assembly and positioning of the center stone on the «TWEED ROYAL» necklace.

Step 5 – Dismantling and polishing of the «TWEED ROYAL» necklace.

Step 6 – Making, pinning and assembling the lion motif on the «TWEED ROYAL» necklace, transformable into a brooch or ring.

Step 7 – The finished «TWEED ROYAL» necklace.

Photos: © CHANEL #TweedDeCHANEL #CHANELHighJewelry
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

A spectacular book published by Thames & Hudson to celebrate the exceptional CHANEL High Jewelry creations, from the launch of Gabrielle Chanel’s first collection in 1932 to the most contemporary pieces.

«I used my penchant for all that shines to try and reconcile elegance and fashion in a set of jewelry.»
Gabrielle Chanel

From Gabrielle Chanel «Bijoux de Diamants» collection to the newest interpretations of her signature signs and symbols by Patrice Leguéreau, Director of the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio, CHANEL High Jewelry remains eternally modern and true to the spirit of her enterprise.
Breathtaking new photography and classic images from the CHANEL archives brings together revealing combinations in a stunning visual narrative, privileging aesthetic form over 4 chapters: the origins, the symbols, the spirit, and the allure. Gabrielle Chanel’s passion for fabulous and improbable marvels is celebrated here in a covetable book-object that pays tribute to the House’s unparalleled insistence on luxury and refinement, creativity, and beauty.

Based on extensive research and exploring Chanel’s inspirations and art through some of the most precious of all her creations and the eternally modern ideas they have inspired, the book features superb photographs by Karl Lagerfeld, Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, François Kollar, Roger Schall, George Hoyningen-Huene, Horst P. Horst, André Kertész, Sarah Moon, Koto Bolofo, Karim Sadli, Dominique Issermann, and many others. It is also illustrated with images from CHANEL’s archive and sketches that express the creativity and joie de vivre of the world’s finest High Jewelry collections.

Retail price: £150 / 150€ / $200
Publication dates: France / United Kingdom: December 2022
China / Japan / Korea: January 2023
United States: March 2023

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © CHANEL #CHANELHighJewelry
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

When Gabrielle Chanel adopted tweed as her own, it was to gift its comfort to elegant, sporty and resolutely modern women. When Patrice Leguéreau, Director of the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio, took his inspiration from it in 2020, it was to create the first High Jewelry collection dedicated to tweed, with as its central masterpiece the « Tweed Couture » necklace.

Positioning the elements of the strands of the « TWEED COUTURE » Patrimony necklace on the sheet before setting.

Re-created today, this technical and aesthetic tour de force now forms part of the CHANEL High Jewelry Patrimoine. And it assures tweed a definitive place among the major inspirations of the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio.

Assembly of the « TWEED COUTURE » Patrimony necklace.

Taming tweed. Transforming its softness, reinterpreting its weave and the irregularities that deepen its fleecy qualities, and mastering its suppleness in gold, pearls and gemtones. This is the dream that is realized in the « Tweed Couture » necklace. Unfolding in a host of radiating lines of varying lengths, it evokes a dense yet astonishingly light weave, created through a number of innovative processes.

Threading the chain that creates the horizontal weave of the tweed through the strands. First mounting of the chain before dismantling it for setting of the « TWEED COUTURE » Patrimony necklace.

The first of these is the articulation of rose gold and platinum threads to create minuscule hinges, rings and joints that infuse the whole structure of the necklace with suppleness. They are complemented by settings of equal lightness, in which each stone appears to be freed from claws or beads, to be fully revealed in the light.

Assembly of the « TWEED COUTURE » Patrimony necklace.

Rows of infinitely delicate pink sapphires, intense and crystalline red spinels, velvet-smooth pearls and diamonds of dazzling clarity weave the warp and weft of the tweed to re-create its downy thickness. A row of pearls, meanwhile, punctuated in the center by a 10.20 carat DIF type IIa cushion-cut diamond, delicately accentuates the base of the neck. Finally, the back of every element has been polished to ensure the necklace is as light and comfortable as tweed.

Adjustments of the center stone, a cushion-cut diamond of 10,20 carats of the « TWEED COUTURE » Patrimony necklace.

In its perfect embrace of the curve of the neck and its re-creation of the tweed weave, the « Tweed Couture » necklace elevates suppleness to the level of a creative principle, as exalted by the mastery and savoir-faire of the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Atelier. In its freedom and inventiveness, it celebrates the uncompromising boldness of Mademoiselle and takes its place in the CHANEL High Jewelry Patrimoine.

«The « Tweed Couture” necklace, which combines most of the technical challenges we had to face in 2020, was the most ambitious piece in this High Jewelry collection. For example, more than 980 articulations were assembled to create the exceptional suppleness of the necklace. That’s why today, CHANEL is proud to donate this exceptional piece to the Patrimoine department as a precious testimony of our creativity and savoir-faire.» – Patrice Leguéreau

Gabrielle Chanel and the tweed jacket of her English Duke lover changed fashion for ever. The fabric was also the inspiration for Virginie Viard’s F/W 2022 collection for CHANEL.

TWEED BY CHANEL

In the 1920s, Gabrielle Chanel had a love affair with the Duke of Westminster and discovered the lifestyle of the English aristocracy.
The Duke had an indisputable influence on the designs of Mademoiselle, who notably borrowed his tweed jackets to offer reinterpretations of them in her collections.
Tweed is a thick, soft woolen fabric that takes its name from the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders. While it has been part of the CHANEL vocabulary of style since the 1920s, it entered the Maison’s world of jewelry in 2020, with an initial collection of 45 High Jewelry pieces.

Work on « TWEED COUTURE » Patrimony necklace.

The most expensive piece in the 2020 collection, the « Tweed Couture » necklace has been reproduced for the occasion in order to join the pieces in the CHANEL High Jewelry Patrimoine department, such as the « 55.55 » necklace from the “N°5” High Jewelry Collection.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © CHANEL #TweedDeCHANEL #CHANELHighJewelry
DISCLOSURE: We may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise. 

To celebrate the 100th year of the N°5 perfume’s fame, Patrice Leguéreau, Director of the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio, has imagined the «Collection N°5», the first High Jewelry collection ever to be dedicated to a perfume.

A first in the history of High Jewelry, this collection showcases all the facets of a perfume, interpreting the eternal mystery of the N°5 perfume with virtuosity. From the bottle to the sillage, one hundred and twenty-three extraordinary pieces express the different facets of the perfume. With its hundred years of fame, only a perfume as mysterious and iconic as the N°5 perfume could inspire such a majestic High Jewelry collection.

In 1921, the first «perfume for women with the scent of a woman» composed by Ernest Beaux and Gabrielle Chanel made a commotion. With the absolute modernity of the fragrance, the purity of the bottle and the mystery of the name, the N°5 perfume was nothing short of a revolution. In 1932, Mademoiselle shattered the codes of French High Jewelry with her one and only collection in platinum and diamonds. These «Bijoux de Diamants» introduced new ways of wearing and took jewelry into another realm… that of allure. In 2021, Patrice Leguéreau decided to bring these two domains together with the «Collection N°5».

«Gabrielle Chanel approached these two universes with the same visionary values, focusing on audacity and the quest for excellence. I wanted to rediscover that creative gesture with this collection, which has been conceived like a journey through the meanderings of the N°5 perfume’s soul, from the architecture of the bottle to the olfactive explosion of the fragrance.»

The zenith of this precious collection is the extraordinary 55.55 necklace that expresses all the codes of the fragrance which radiate through an exceptional gemstone crafted in its honour, a 55.55-carat custom-cut diamond.

«This is an unprecedented approach» observes Patrice Leguéreau. «We started with a rough diamond that we had cut, not to make the biggest stone possible, but to obtain a perfect octagonal diamond weighing 55.55 carats.»

The harmonious shape, in an emerald cut, the symbolic weight of 55.55 carats, the D Flawless quality of this stone and the 18-carat white gold bezel set with 104 round diamonds and 42 baguette diamonds testify to CHANEL’s perfectionism and exceptional levels of creation and technical mastery. The profile of the stopper, the silhouette of the bottle, the fastener shaped like the lucky number, and the cascading of pear-shaped diamonds in different sizes, cut one by one, mould this piece into an ultimate tribute to the perfume.

Figurative as much as it is abstract, the 55.55 necklace goes further than an exercise in style. It symbolizes the embrace between the spirit of the N°5 perfume and the most exceptional jewelry making. With an incomparable suppleness, this fascinating and eternal item of jewelry adds its own stone to the story of CHANEL’s first perfume, which has become a myth.

But the tale does not stop here because CHANEL has chosen to keep the necklace 55.55 in its Patrimoine. Thus, this extraordinary piece will forever be a part of the history of CHANEL’s High Jewelry and the symbol of the unbreakable ties that unite place Vendôme with the N°5 perfume.

Stunning, beautiful – an iconic piece that has already made history.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © CHANEL