Chanel Jewelry No. 5: Immersion in the Creative Process of Their Design
At the beginning of October 2021, Marion Cotillard caused a stir by wearing a magnificent Chanel necklace from the new N°5 collection at a dinner at Maxim's. To mark the house's centenary, let's take a look back at the mythical history of Chanel N°5 jewelry.
Chanel N°5 jewelry: the first collection on the theme of a perfume
From its birth in 1921, the legend of Chanel N°5 has been charged with glamour and mystery. It is therefore entirely appropriate that its centenary celebrations revolve around these themes. So far, they have consisted of a short film entitled Celebrity. It stars Marion Cotillard, among others, and Chanel Factory 5. However, the N°5 Collection, made up of 123 incomparable high jewelry pieces inspired by Gabrielle Chanel's seminal perfume, is probably the most significant event of this centenary.
Chanel N°5 High Jewelry: Meet the architect of these jewels
The person behind this esteemed collection is Patrice Leguéreau, master gemologist and director of Chanel's jewelry creative studio. The design of the Chanel N°5 High Jewelry collection was not rushed. It began in the flower fields of Grasse, where the rose and jasmine of the Chanel N°5 elixir are harvested.
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"I went to Grasse in August 2018 with Olivier Polge. We met the Mul family, we had a good time together," recalls Patrice. Olivier is Chanel's perfumer. He is the son of Jacques Polge, who held the same prestigious position from 1978 to 2015. Joseph Mul is the French farmer who is the guardian of Chanel's precious petals. "It was late August for the jasmine harvest, and it was the beginning for me. I asked Olivier to tell me about N°5 perfume."
Patrice's escapade to Grasse was just the beginning of this journey. The creation of a high jewelry collection cannot be rushed. "A jewelry collection begins with art," he declares. "I never immediately jump into creating jewelry. The ideas are very general at first, with paintings, illustrations, watercolors. I also draw inspiration from Gabrielle Chanel's apartment on rue Cambon. I like to approach each collection in a very artistic way."
In fact, Patrice is so impressed by the paintings, objets d'art, sculptures, and Coromandel screens in Gabrielle Chanel's Parisian apartment that he sought to recreate his own tribute to her talismans in his studio on the fifth floor of 18 Place Vendôme. "I wanted to create a very Chanel space in spirit, a place where I could be directly connected to the Chanel universe," he explains. "I worked with a very famous French sculptor, Jean-François Gambino, on a bronze lion for my office. There is gold Coromandel print wallpaper and curtains by Maison Lesage."
He also enjoys being surrounded by books he has sought out from around the world. "I like to draw inspiration from antiques, because there are so many interesting and wonderful things. I like to go to the origin of creation to understand and feel its quality and strength. For example, I am truly inspired by Egyptian and Mesopotamian art and lions, as well as ancient jewelry. I bring back books from all the museums I visit on my travels. I have a lot of books that I bought in Japan and China."
Inspiration, a long process that is cultivated
Although Patrice is greatly inspired by his travels, he concedes: "Inspiration comes slowly over time. It's not sudden, it's a long process, an evolution that I enrich. I have a theme in mind, then I collect ideas as I go along to embellish it. And it's when I'm in my studio that I put it all down on paper."
Gabrielle Chanel herself only designed one high jewelry collection at the invitation of the Union of Diamond Merchants. This was at the height of the Great Depression. Thus, in 1932, the Bijoux de Diamants collection was born, made from borrowed precious stones. The 5 themes were fringe, ribbon, feathers, suns and stars. Motifs that continue to live on in the legend of the house to this day. The pieces were quickly dismantled and the diamonds quickly returned. But the collection was considered a revolutionary act by the establishment at the time, given that Gabrielle Chanel was considered a couturiere, and not a jewelry designer.
The same rebellious spirit is found in Chanel N°5. According to James Craven, perfume archivist at the specialized London perfumery Les Senteurs, there are certain qualities that all iconic perfumes share: "They have a secret. They transcend age and time. They cannot be fully explained. However, they generally offer an advance at the time of their creation, and for Chanel N°5, it was the addition of aldehydes."
The inspirations for the Chanel N°5 jewelry collection
100 years later, Patrice Leguéreau's mission is to immortalize this moment in the form of high jewelry. "For the N°5 Collection, I painted elements that initially inspired me. The silhouette, the shape of the bottle, many things that helped me to outline this collection. I focused on flowers like the May rose, ylang-ylang and jasmine, and not on jewelry at first. I like to start from a very artistic point of view, then slowly begin the journey towards the collection. This is how I imbue each collection and each piece with novelty, modernity and creativity."
He continues: "The feeling that I have when I work freehand, when I paint in watercolor for example, is a feeling of energy, which I like to put into jewelry creation. That's why, for each collection, the jewelry is different. Every day I wore the perfume to make sure there was a very strong link between the perfume, my creativity and my senses. This is how I immerse myself in a collection. I always try to soak up the theme, the subject, from the bottle, the cap, and little by little inside the bottle to be able to feel and understand the spirit of N°5."
Chanel 55.55 necklace: a marvel that is not for sale
The centerpiece of this collection is the Chanel 55.55 necklace with its impeccable custom 55.55-carat emerald-cut diamond in an 18-karat white gold bezel. It is set with 104 round diamonds and 42 baguette diamonds. "I dreamed of creating a grandiose piece for this collection for the 100th anniversary of N°5. I really wanted a different, oversized and powerful piece of jewelry. When I designed this necklace, we didn't have all the stones. I experimented with a special cut, but it didn't work out as I wanted. In the end, we found a rough diamond in Lesotho and decided to cut the perfect white stone for this collection. It's an emerald-cut diamond, like the shape of the Place Vendôme. It was my first idea, my first dream, but the last to come true."
The Chanel 55.55 necklace is not for sale. The destiny of this invaluable piece is to travel the world to amaze those who dream of wearing it. However, the story is far from over. "N°5 is just the beginning," admits Patrice. "There will be a second collection, probably a third. It's a new story I've created that will evolve in the future. It's a new world, a new dimension of the Chanel universe."
