First of Its Kind, Last of Its Kind tells the story of an exceptional accessory and the archival piece that inspired it.
The daughter of a street peddler and a domestic worker, Gabrielle Chanel — Coco, as she’d become known the world over — was born in Saumur, France, a medieval market town on the Loire River, in 1883. After her mother’s death in 1895, Chanel is thought to have spent most of her teenage years with her two sisters at Aubazine Abbey, an early 12th-century Cistercian monastery in the country’s Corrèze region. The Romanesque convent’s cosmic motifs, which included a mosaic of stars and a crescent moon paved into its stone floor, were a source of inspiration for Chanel’s only high jewelry collection, Bijoux de Diamants. First shown in 1932 at her Parisian townhouse, the 50 or so diamond pieces featured meteor-shaped earrings and rings that mimicked blazing suns. Made with invisible settings, the items had no fasteners or clasps, which Chanel loathed. Their absence encouraged movement and versatility: necklaces could be turned into sets of bracelets; brooches doubled as hairpins and pendants. “My jewelry never stands in isolation from the idea of a woman and her dress,” she once said. “It is because dresses change that my jewelry is transformable.”
This fall, as part of its Reach for the Stars high jewelry collection, the house of Chanel is continuing the release of 109 pieces that draw from three of the couturier’s recurring emblems: comets, wings and lions. Among avian sapphire pendants and sautoirs with woven, black-coated gold chains, the real showstopper is a pair of Rise and Shine earrings, each meant to evoke a different shooting star. Set in 18-karat white gold and naturally polished diamonds, they pay tribute to Chanel’s original 1932 comet choker, which featured a five-pointed star nestled on the collarbone, with a ribbonlike tail orbiting the neck. These diamond tails can be removed or swapped between the two earrings, allowing them to fall at various mismatched lengths. Fiery and ever-enthralling, the comet signifies optimism and individuality — epitomizing the spirit of the 115-year-old brand.
Photo assistant: Thomas Cecchelani
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