FRESH CUTS
Chanel’s new 1.5 Camélia high jewellery collection pays glittering homage to its founder’s favourite floral emblem, says Shamilee Vellu
ForCoco Chanel – that fearless fashion trailblazer who created her signature aesthetic by taking scissors to her paramour’s suit – an ordinary rose would never do. Instead, Chanel subverted expectation by claiming the camellia, which she found appealing because of its refined yet pared‑back sensibility. Scentless, thornless and almost elemental in its geometric roundness, a single monochromatic camellia proved particularly striking when adorning a simple sweater or little black dress.
While the camellia has appeared in past collections, it’s the first time it has informed an entire one. The 1.5 – 1 Camélia. 5 Allures collection presents 50 pieces of high jewellery, each exploring its floral inspiration using diamonds, pink sapphires, rubies and rose gold. Of these, 23 are transformable, which recalls the maverick spirit of Chanel’s first fine jewellery collection in 1932, where she debuted several designs that could transform and be worn in a myriad of ways.
“Almost half of the pieces in this High Jewellery Collection are convertible, offering the freedom of at least five looks: One single flower, five ways to wear it” — MARIANNE ETCHEBARNE
“My (jewels) are flexible and detachable... you can take apart the jewellery and use it to match a hat or fur. In this way, the set of jewellery is no longer an immutable object. Life transforms it and bends it to its needs,” Chanel memorably said, setting a mandate followed by the 1.5 collection.
“She wanted her jewellery to be as liberating as possible. Hence, almost half of the pieces in this High Jewellery Collection are convertible, offering the freedom of at least five looks: One single flower, five ways to wear it,” says Marianne Etchebarne, Global Head of Watches and Fine Jewellery Marketing, Media and Clients at Chanel.
One centrepiece is the Révélation Diamant, a white gold and diamond sautoir with a detachable camellia motif that can be worn in multiple ways, including as a hair pin and brooch. Considerable technical prowess was required to achieve this versatility – according to Etchebarne, one of the main challenges was to create “perfectly incorporated fastenings that can be clipped and unclipped to invite women to wear the pieces in the way they want easily”.
The $6.5 million design is the most expensive in the collection, and demanded over 1,400 hours of work in order to get the best suppleness and to highlight the stones. “In the end,” says Etchebarne, “we barely see the metal.”
Another highlight is the Rouge Tentation ring, code‑named the Puzzle ring and meant to be a piece that the wearer could “play” with as she desired. Set in rose gold, with
red spinels and diamonds, the ring is described as “one of the most transformable pieces in this collection”, and offers the permutations of two rings and two brooches.
The diamond-bedecked Perles de Diamant watch (above) is also a standout, completely crafted from an extravaganza of pear-shaped, round, oval and baguette-cut diamonds set in a fluid, organic manner. Hidden within is the secret watch with a diamond-set bezel surrounded by radiating camellia petals.
The Rose Poudré necklace, meanwhile, comprises chains set with brilliant and teardrop-shaped diamonds that drape elegantly in ever-wider circles around the wearer’s neck, crowned by a single glittering camellia set close to the throat.