During this past Fashion Week, we had the immense privilege of discovering the pure beauty of the Chanel Haute Joaillerie collection paying homage to the Lions and the beautiful and unique city of Venice.
Gabriel Chanel and Venice, a story of love and passion.
It was a timeless city that seemed to float between sea and sky. It was a bewitching city that gave one a feeling of oblivion and dream. Especially in the evening, when the fading light covered it in gold… Everything then became unreal, the facades of the palaces, the canals, the alleyways where Gabrielle Chanel loved to stroll and lose herself, sometimes, until nightfall. Venice gave her peace of mind and, at last, a taste for life.
Boy Capel, her great love, had died in an accident two days before Christmas 1919.
Their love story had lasted ten years. By advancing her the funds needed to open her first boutique, Boy had enabled her to conquer the independence she sought above all else. He alone had treated her as an equal. He had taught her the true way to love, without control.
And then Venice! The magical city had changed everything! It was there that she began to breathe again, that she revealed herself to herself.
Misia and José-Maria Sert had spent weeks convincing her to follow them on their annual pilgrimage to the City of the Doges.
For the first few days, she’d been wary of this eternal reference to the past, of the decrepitude that could be discerned behind the facades of the palaces on the Grand Canal.
Taking refuge in the imposing silence of the churches, particularly La Salute, she gradually found comfort. And little by little, she’d taken to the game. She followed José-Maria Sert to museums, palaces and alleyways. He knew everything,” she later recounted. Antonello de Messina’s itineraries, the lives of the saints, what Dürer had engraved at the age of fourteen, (…) what varnishes Annibal Carracci used…”. She had immersed herself in a world of beauty.
Sert had offered her the splendor of this city and its relics from the Byzantine Empire. He had led her behind the altar of San Marco to discover the “Pala d’Oro”, a 3-meter-long piece of goldsmith’s work, entirely set with cabochon-polished stones. The dazzling sight of this unique treasure was to leave a lasting impression on her.
Misia had helped her to sort through this invasive open-air museum: “Leave those Botticellis and Vinci alone, they’re disgusting (…)” she said, with her characteristic sense of provocation. Let’s go and buy some coral to make Chinese trees”.
Having tamed the Venice of the past, she had discovered the vibrant life of 1920 Venice. A city that was coming back to life after the war. The Venetians and the first tourists enjoyed bathing and lounging on the beaches of the Lido. Then came tea on the terraces of the chic hotels lining the shore, and early or late evenings lingering over cocktails under the arcades of the Café Florian.
And that strange scene that had so struck her in Venice, and which she would much later recount to Paul Morand: “One day, on the Lido, I saw a respectable old American woman sitting under a parasol; all the young American women preparing to enter the bath were entrusting her with their jewelry; in the end, she looked like one of our Auvergne Saint Virgins, studded with cabochons; the treasure of Saint Mark paled beside her.”
Gabrielle Chanel made Venice her home. Born on August 19, 1883, was she not placed, like the City of the Doges, under the sign of the Lion?
This symbol is omnipresent in the Serenissima: on the pediments and doors of palaces, mosaics and stone statues… The lion of St. Mark’s Square, a tutelary figure resting on a granite column, dominated the city, haloed by the sunlight.
The lion embodied the glory and courage of Venice. Ambassadors and kings alike bowed before the lion that topped the pediment at the entrance to the Doge’s Palace. The most famous artists, such as Carpaccio, depicted him on their canvases.
It was he who gave strength to the city of which he was the emblem.
Venice, built on the sea centuries before to resist the attacks of barbarian invaders, was indestructible, just like Gabrielle Chanel, who had taken her life into her own hands long before women became independent.
For Gabrielle Chanel, the lion became a recurring and familiar symbol. It figured prominently among the objects adorning her apartment on rue Cambon. Whether in gilded bronze or marble, placed on a table or carved on the edge of a mantelpiece, it is there, conquering, its paw resting on the world. Mademoiselle Chanel used it as an emblem in her creations, adorning the buttons on her suits or the clasp on her handbags.
Chanel will always see this Venetian encounter with the lion as much more than a coincidence. For her, it was a sign of destiny and a way of renewing the thread of her life, and it was in Venice that she would find new strength. A symbol of the evangelist St. Mark, the city’s patron saint, the lion is also the embodiment of resurrection, if we are to believe the legend that its breath restored life to its three cubs.
The “Sous le signe du Lion” collection
A new Haute Joaillerie collection, “Sous le signe du Lion” features Gabrielle Chanel’s emblematic animal in a collection of 58 exceptional pieces.
King of the zodiac, solar and majestic, guardian of the Serenissima, whose strength and beauty it embodies, the lion occupies a very special place in Gabrielle Chanel’s imagination.
First appearing in CHANEL’s Haute Joaillerie universe in 2012, the lion is part of Mademoiselle Chanel’s symbolic language and one of her sources of inspiration.
The “Lion Céleste” brooch in white gold and diamonds features the motif of the Venetian lion in Mademoiselle Chanel’s apartment, with one paw resting on the world.
In the same spirit, the “Constellation du Lion” brooch and earrings unite the lion and the comet. These two symbols, dear to Mademoiselle, combine gold with yellow and white diamonds, yellow sapphires and rutilated quartz.
A tribute to the lion of St. Mark’s Basilica, the “Lion San Marco” ring symbolizes the encounter between Mademoiselle Chanel and Venice. In yellow gold and platinum, this sumptuous ring, produced in 5 pieces, is topped by a lion sculpted in lapis lazuli and a star set with yellow diamonds and a white diamond center.
The flagship creation of this collection, the “Lion Royal” set in platinum, white gold and diamonds, highlights the sumptuousness of the motif. A spectacular transformable necklace, entirely set with diamonds, can be worn as a sautoir or a shorter necklace, while the central motif featuring a lion’s head can also become a brooch. A pair of earrings and a ring follow the same theme.
Baroque and voluptuous, the “Solar Lion” motif is adorned with the fire of diamonds and the warmth of yellow sapphire, citrine, beryl, topaz and garnet. The subtle harmony of the different tones evokes the soft, amber light of a late summer afternoon, and is matched by the different shapes and sizes of the stones. A long necklace, a brooch, earrings and a ring make up this set.
Fluid and elegant, the “Lion Astral” set in white gold and diamonds sublimates the radiance of a starry night. A lion’s head stands out, framed by two crescent moons, the asymmetrical motif of a sautoir made of a double row of diamonds, or the central motif of a pair of earrings, two bracelets and a ring.
The “Lion Vénitien” motif in white gold and diamonds celebrates Gabrielle Chanel’s unfailing link with the Serenissima. The central motif of these three sets, a majestic lion’s head, punctuates necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and a secret watch whose diamond-set lion’s head pivots to reveal the dial.
The “Lion Impérial” set combines white gold and diamonds with Mademoiselle Chanel’s signature cultured pearls. Softened by the velvety orient of pearls, the incandescent sparkle of diamonds and the lion motif express a simple, timeless elegance. A sautoir, earrings, a bracelet and a ring make up this set.
Attached to signs, numbers and symbols, Mademoiselle Chanel loved to surround herself with lucky charms and jewelry. A sumptuous “Lion Talisman” medallion, featuring a lion’s head, adorns a set in white gold, black spinels and diamonds. On the same theme, yellow gold medallions featuring a lion’s head punctuate two sautoirs and a bracelet combining yellow gold, multicolored cultured pearls and diamonds.
Carefully wrapped around the finger, the “Roaring Lion” ring depicts a lion ready to pounce. Interpreted in white gold and diamonds, yellow gold beryl and yellow sapphires, or white gold, onyx and diamonds, this ring reveals all the delicacy of sculpture in the round, exalting with naturalism the strength and majesty of the king of animals.
Evoking the sumptuous Byzantine mosaics that Gabrielle Chanel discovered both in St. Mark’s Basilica and on the nearby island of Torcello, the “Lion Mosaïque” set testifies to the extraordinary technical mastery of the Haute Joaillerie workshops. A veritable tableau of stones composed in white gold and diamonds: a necklace, a brooch, a bracelet, a watch and a ring feature a three-quarter view of a lion’s head against a background of stones. A slight relief gives life to these pieces, which are as sumptuous as they are astonishing.
Freely inspired by this emblematic lion, this new Haute Joaillerie collection, closely linked to the history of Gabrielle Chanel, expresses the full scope of CHANEL JOAILLERIE’s creativity and expertise.
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
