"LES BLÉS DE CHANEL" HIGH JEWELLERY COLLECTION

As far back as Gabrielle Chanel could remember, from her childhood onwards, she always had fond memories of wheat.

Coincidentally her date of birth on August 19th coincides with the harvest festival.  This celebration held at the end of the summer was the symbol of renewed prosperity and abundance because the harvests were plentiful and the granaries were full.

In May, the new seedlings sprout from the ground, tender and green.  In June, when the temperature becomes warmer, the ears of wheat begin to form.  July and August sees them basking in the sun, their smell and fragrance fill the countryside on Summer’s evening.  Everyone knows that the crop is then ready to be harvested.

For Gabrielle Chanel’s Father wheat symbolised all that was good and wholesome.  How many times as a child had she heard him call it “my good wheat”?  This expression resounded with her all her life. And this “good wheat” never left her, turning it into one of her lucky charms.  Real, in wood, bronze or in a painting by her friend Dali, wheat was present in all its forms in her apartment at rue Cambon, in her suite at the Ritz or in her home in La Pausa.

The High Jewellery collection “Les Blés de CHANEL” celebrates for the first time this fundamental element of Gabrielle Chanel’s world, this eternal symbol of regeneration, abundance, luck, prosperity and endless creativity.
The collection follows the life cycle of wheat, and these 47 high jewellery pieces in all their softness appear like a wheat field moving in the breeze.

“Premiers Brins”, “Brins de Printemps” and “Brins de Diamants” pay homage to the tender young wheat shoots of early spring.  Diamonds, peridots, crystalline and aquamarines play with transparency like young stalks of wheat.

The harvest is evoked through the variations of “Moisson Ensoleillée” and “Moisson de Perles” where diamonds, yellow sapphires and pearls bask in the golden warmth of a Summer’s sun.

“Impression de Blé” and “Blé Infini” offer many variations on the theme of wheat and reinvent the motif as a precious and sparkling pattern design. “Champ de Blé” evokes the wheat of early summer in a more abstract series of pieces. Mounted on yellow or white gold, diamonds are entangled in a network of foliage.

Finally, the “Légende de Blé” pendant earrings display a majestic ear-of-wheat in white gold and diamonds that cascade along the ear, leaving the summer’s most precious offerings.

With this collection, wheat offers a lavish entry into CHANEL High Jewellery and pays tribute to one of Gabrielle Chanel’s most personal symbols.

The CHANEL High Jewellery collection “Les Blés de CHANEL” will be exhibited by invitation only, at the ArtScience Museum from the February 26 to February 28, 2018.

Following which, the collection will be presented at the CHANEL Marina Bay Sands boutique and CHANEL Fine Jewellery boutique at Takashimaya Shopping Centre fromMarch 2 to March 31, 2018.