“Go and fetch my pearls ; I won’t go up to the ateliers until they’re around my neck, because I want to honor my seamstresses.” Gabrielle doted on them. She wore in them in all circumstances. By day or night, with a sweater, a sports outfit or with the famous little black dress. As chokers, as a single row or in cascading rows on sautoir necklaces, pearls accompanied her wherever she went. Like a second skin with which she played in that irresistibly casual way for which she was known in Parisian fashion and cultural circles. The composer Georges Auric tells how one evening in 1925, Gabrielle Chanel broke her over two meter-long necklace of fine pearls while dancing the Charleston*. She remained apparently indifferent and enjoyed watching the gathering of tuxedo-clad gentlemen on their knees hunting for her precious pearls… It is also said that towards the end of her life, in her room at the Ritz, she kept only three beige dress suits and her pearls. Her indispensable, essential items.

 

 

 

Cascading symbols

Icon of a form of elegance that has found its way through passing years with undiminished panache, Coco Chanel designed and dressed without ever departing from the principle that “fashion changes, but style endures”. Pearls doubtless have the singular power to infuse jewelry with the timeless elegance cherished by Mademoiselle. Seductive assets that make a perfect match with all kinds of materials, symbols of purity and femininity, pearls exercise a fascination that is as powerful today as in yesteryear. This fundamental theme underpinning its identity is now exquisitely highlighted by the jewelry House through Les Perles de Chanel collection.

 

 

Necklaces, sautoir necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings and brooches showcase the beauty of pearls in all their stunning diversity. Freshwater pearls, South Sea, Tahitian and Japanese pearls… Les Perles de Chanel creations once again appropriate these natural treasures in a series of exceptional models conveying the still vibrant style of Gabrielle Chanel. Her world and her favorite symbols are vividly embodied in these pieces evoking the pearls on the strands constantly surrounding her neck. Precious camellias, majestic lions, constellations and comets, as well as feathers, bows or cascading streams that have nurtured the imaginary world of Chanel from the start. Spectacularly round black, golden and pink-tinged pearls create striking contrasts with diamonds, yellow diamonds, sapphires, tourmalines, aquamarines and amethysts composing subtle color motifs. Les Perles de Chanel are splendid, astonishing and simply enchanting. Just as Gabrielle Chanel was won over by their beauty in discovering Renaissance painting, particularly a court portrait by Veronese, observers willingly allow themselves to be swept into the sensual world of pearls that remain untouched by the passing years.

 

* Les années Chanel, written by Pierre Galante

 

Camélia Perlé brooch in diamond-set white gold, adorned with 47 South Sea cultured pearls.

 

Rosée de Camélia earrings in diamond-set white gold, two South Sea cultured pearls, 140 Japanese cultured pearls.

 

Lion Baroque necklace in white and yellow gold set with diamonds and multicolored sapphires, two South Sea cultured pearls (15.2mm in diameter), 174 Tahitian cultured pearls, mother-of-pearl.

 

Lion Baroque bracelet in white and yellow gold set with diamonds and multicolored sapphires, 62 Tahitian and South Sea pearls, mother-of-pearl.

 

Perles de Jour necklace in diamond-set white gold, adorned with 47 South Sea cultured pearls.

 

White Tie necklace in diamond-set white gold, adorned with 1,370 Japanese cultured pearls.

 

Plume Perlée de Chanel brooch in diamond-set white gold, 25 Japanese cultured pearls.