Gabrielle Chanel redrew the parameters of women’s dressing with her embrace of unexpected fabrics and silhouettes. Physically active (she rode horses, skied, and played tennis and golf), she translated her love of sport into her clothing, introducing an ease of movement, with materials such as jersey, which prefaced the opening of her first sport atelier in 1921.
Patrice Leguéreau, director of Chanel’s Fine Jewellery Creation Studio, nods to this championing of easy-to-wear, streamlined silhouettes in the design of the brand’s new high jewellery collection, Haute Joaillerie Sport. Inspired by Gabrielle’s study of how sportswear is worn close to the body, here Leguéreau’s supple jewellery eschews a restrictive fit, designed instead to freely drape. As with the clothes, here, too, we see an unexpected combination of materials woven throughout, from lusciously light aluminium to carbon fibre and lacquer in black, red and blue, in a mirroring of the bold colours of the precious stones.
Haute Joaillerie Sport
White gold earrings with diamonds, emeralds and blue lacquer
These colourful gemstones illustrate some of Gabrielle’s favourite motifs, including the lion and the star. Elsewhere, distinctive Chanel design details are abundant, from a carabiner in the shape of the number ‘5’ to the swivel clasp synonymous with the ‘2.55’ bag, here given a jewellery spin, as is the humble sports cord, which becomes a tube chain dangling from a lattice of diamonds. The familiar Chanel quilting, meanwhile, pays tribute to the flexible nature of hard-working sports fabrics, taking the form of a fluid mesh.
Other pieces also borrow from the sports world, with quick-release fittings becoming fastenings, and buckles and loops making for unusual new additions to the high jewellery anthology. It’s a winning collection.
This article appears in the November 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
White gold necklace with diamonds, and red and black lacquer. All jewellery part of the Haute Joaillerie Sport collection, price on request, by Chanel High Jewellery
-
La Monique brings the French Riviera to Santa MonicaA transportive room of velvet, candlelight, and Riviera chic, serving French favourites with a modern wink
-
Kat Milne is the designer behind fashion’s most intriguing retail spacesInfused with elements of the surreal, Kat Milne has designed stores for the likes of Marc Jacobs, Sandy Liang and A24. ‘People are looking for a more tactile experience,’ she tells Wallpaper*
-
A refreshed 1950s apartment in East London allows for moments of discoveryWith this 1950s apartment redesign, London-based architects Studio Naama wanted to create a residence which reflects the fun and individual nature of the clients
-
It’s time for the return of the show-stopping table clockA host of brands, from Piaget to Van Cleef & Arpels, are revisiting the table clock in spectacular style
-
What happens when a Chanel watch becomes a sound machine?Meet the Chanel Première Sound – an adaptable necklace with a watch and removable earphones
-
Chaumet, Cartier and Chanel up their high jewellery watch game for 2024In 2024's high jewellery watch designs, performance tech and centuries-old techniques combine to brilliant effect
-
Skeletonised watches are making a dazzling return in 2024Skeletonised watches return, once again opening up their dials, letting us enjoy mechanical watchmaking at its intricate finest
-
Dark watches show it’s time to embrace an inky paletteDiscover new dark watches from brands including Audemars Piguet, Omega, Chanel and Tudor
-
Year in review: top 10 watch and jewellery stories of 2023, as picked by Wallpaper’s Hannah SilverSilver’s top 10 watch and jewellery stories of 2023 span cool horological collaborations, sculptural forms, and cutlery as bracelets
-
The odd couple: Chanel and Pomellato play with asymmetry in jewelleryTwo jewellery houses, Chanel and Pomellato, take a new turn, toying with asymmetry to create organically opulent pieces
-
Chanel unveils new Tweed de Chanel high jewelleryChanel translates Gabrielle Chanel’s love of tweed into exquisite high jewellery
