ROQUEBRUNE-CAP-MARTIN, France — When it comes to Chanel, there will be signs.
Long before building the house that bears her name and becoming the couture figure she is best remembered as, Gabrielle Chanel “invented a myth based on signs and symbols,” said Chanel watch and jewelry president Frédéric Grangié, recalling the words of her grand-niece Gabrielle Palasse-Labrunie.
From lions and camellias to talismanic and cosmological motifs, the visual vernacular associated with the designer’s mystique is at the heart of the house’s latest “Signes & Symboles” high jewelry collection.
With its total of 85 pieces, the collection is “almost like a tribute to jewelry [and is] very different to what we have done recently,” said Grangié.
“It’s also a bit like a treasure chest that you open and [where] you find multiple stories,” he continued. “At the same time, in the end, it’s really about her myth and those signs that she had with all her life.”
Hence why there was no better setting to reveal the collection than La Pausa, her hillside villa perched above the Mediterranean.
In fact, that’s where it “had to happen,” Grangié insisted.
The same symbolic grammar is visible in every corner of the painstakingly restored property, from the field of irises that border the path from the main gate and a succession of five rectangular windows to the arches recalling the cloister of Aubazine convent-orphanage where Chanel spent her teenage years and right down to the bedspread in her bedroom upstairs.
No Photos, Please
Not that any of this, juxtaposed with the latest glittering creations of the Rue Cambon house, will be flooding social media: photography of the spaces as well as the pieces was strictly prohibited.
The dimensions of La Pausa suggested a smaller scale of events than the now-customary splashy destination displays of other brands, and Grangié has turned this into a stance.
Other than restrained official photography that shows scant details, save for the spine of ancient books here, the grain of a table there, the low-key approach is “a big plus” in “a period that is so frantic about everything,” he told WWD.
“The whole business — not only luxury, but in general — has become very, very noisy, so I would rather focus on the signal than the noise,” he continued.
At a time where “we are all tired of the flooding of information that you get all the time,” he feels high jewelry, in light of its position as a pinnacle of excellence, “deserves quality time, focus and maybe a slower way to appreciate it.”
Rather than snap away, guests last week kept their eyes peeled — and jotting pads at the ready — as they visited the succession of rooms to discover chapter after chapter of the collection.
Also on display for the occasion were more than 130 pieces drawn from previous collections, including a handful of bejeweled horological creations.
House Codes Galore
The traditional quartet — diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald, which Gabrielle Chanel was particularly fond of — led the four chapters that composed the collection.
Taking pride of place in the entrance was “Imprimé Lion,” a statuesque plastron necklace with stars, stylized camellias and radiant sunrays arranged in neat geometric lines and topped with a sculptural lion head and a 20.66-carat unheated Sri Lankan sapphire in an octagonal cut.
A long table carried a series of books, open on pages around Byzantine jewels, juxtaposed with painted research notes from Chanel’s late jewelry studio director Patrice Leguéreau, dating back to the final months of 2023 and early 2024.
His colorful brushstrokes gave the impression of stones juxtaposed and hinted at a wider-than-before gem palette, but also had something of textile development research as they wove across the page.
Nearby, these ideas took shape as a radiant interpretation of the sun while the heraldic “Lion Emblématique” brooch depicted the great cat’s head with its mane turned into a coif that had something of ancient Egypt. They came studded in rubies, sapphires, emeralds and turquoises, plus carnelian for the former and yellow diamonds for the latter.
In the living room, a two-strand necklace was adorned with a pair of camellia motifs that glowed golden in the evening light with their beryls edged with yellow sapphires — almost enough to overlook their 1.6-carat diamond centers. Its chain was also a new development, a succession of minute oval cartouche articulated together into a graphic and supple outline.
Upstairs, in Chanel’s mirrored bathroom, a foursome of “Talisman Gabrielle” rings alluded to the couturier’s taste for the mystical and the symbolic, with the collection’s star, camellia, sunburst and lion motifs popping against backdrops in chrysoprase, carnelian, black onyx and turquoise respectively.
If black-and-white is the palette most readily associated with Chanel, and past high jewelry outings such as “Tweed” and “Haute Couture Sport” have introduced color progressively, “Signes & Symboles” pushes it to a new level.
Grangié deemed it “definitely the most colorful collection we’ve had in a very, very long time,” though he was quick to point out that Gabrielle herself “was always playing with color” in jewelry.
Here, it’s no less than 11,500 stones — plus a couple thousand extra for pavé-ing — that the in-house gemology team spent around three years selecting and harmonizing to create a symphony rather than a cacophony of colors.
This push into color and a wider array of stones comes as high jewelry players are zeroing in on “new precious” options.
Sourcing becomes an “absolute must” and more challenging as more players enter the segment. Still, that’s something that can be navigated, unlike the industry-wide challenge caused by soaring gold prices.
For stones, “there was an increase, but depending on your teams, your expertise, your contacts, your network, you can play a bit differently,” he said. “Gold is gold. You’re buying gold, and that’s it, so we’re all facing the same challenge.”
Whether in jewelry or in watches, the pressure in terms of pricing and margins is a pain point, but Grangié also sees it as adding value to a creation. “It’s not easy to work around it, but in the end, it’s also a sign of appreciation,” he added.
This year’s collection had a bumper crop of 41 millionaire pieces, with a handful breaching the mid-seven-figure barrier, among them the jewels with important sapphires, emeralds and rubies.
On top of that, while precious materials “is a must you can’t do without,” he “doesn’t think that’s necessarily the reason for buying [a] piece, creation will come first.”
Continuity and the ‘Patrimony of Tomorrow’
For Grangié, it’s always about the long game. Offering creations that are “uniquely Chanel” is important to keep high jewelry clients satisfied but so is delivering the unexpected.
“For us, it’s even more important because it adds one of those layers to the patrimony of tomorrow,” he said.
In that respect, 2024’s “Couture Sport,” last year’s “Reach for the Stars” and this latest offering form “a nice trilogy of surprises” that bring novelties, such as the sporty tubular chain that’s now a recurring feature.
Looking ahead, he does not expect volatility to change that course. “The climate of uncertainty will remain,” he said. “I think it’s important, particularly for us as an independent, family-owned company, to stay the course.”
Chanel’s North Star is that “we know exactly what we will do in the next years, and we will carry on,” said Grangié.
