In suite 202 of the newly revamped Ritz Paris, the smell of wheat lingers in the air. The suite, an exact replica of the one that Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel used to live in when she called the landmark hotel home, has been filled with golden-hued grass.
Stalks of wheat engulf the bed, protrude from the bathtub and form a perimeter around the living room. It’s a fitting backdrop for the launch of Chanel’s latest high jewellery collection, which centres on a motif that was particularly significant to the grand dame of fashion.
A Salvador Dali painting propped on the mantelpiece, depicting a single stalk of wheat, highlights Chanel’s love of this age-old symbol of prosperity, abundance, luck and regeneration. Whether real or rendered in wood, bronze or paint, wheat was present in all her homes. It was a fascination that stemmed from childhood and was inherited from her father, who believed that wheat symbolised all that was good and wholesome.
Notoriously superstitious and a firm believer in the power of symbols and amulets, Chanel came to view wheat as a lucky charm. As a result, the fashion house she founded has created a 62-piece high jewellery collection, called Les Blés de Chanel, to celebrate wheat in all its forms.
There is always the danger when a brand focuses too singularly on one particular motif (especially one borrowed from its archives), that the end result becomes contrived or clichéd. Not so in this instance.
Interestingly, it is when the collection is at its most literal that it is most breathtaking. An obvious case in point is the sweeping intricacy of the Fête des Moissons necklace. A 25-carat, brilliant-cut, intense yellow diamond is surrounded by sheaves of wheat crafted from multicoloured and yellow diamonds.
“It is the star of the collection,” says Benjamin Comar, Chanel’s international jewellery director. “It took more than 15,000 hours to make. It’s a very important necklace, with this magical stone at its centre, but it’s still very open and very wearable. The suppleness and the comfort of the piece are great.”
From a standing clock depicting a bouquet of wheat to delicate wristwatches, chunky cuffs, long sweeping necklaces and oversized rings, there is plenty of variety here. Marquise-cut diamonds perfectly capture the shape and feel of grains of wheat; soft, sweeping lines on necklaces grant the collection an organic, natural feel; and stunning yellow diamonds, emeralds and sapphires chart the way wheat changes in colour as it moves through its life cycle.
Pieces such as Premiers Brins, Brins de Printemps and Brins de Diamants pay homage to the young shoots of early spring, using diamonds, peridots, crystalline and aquamarines. Meanwhile, the wheat harvest is evoked through pieces like Moisson Ensoleillée, Bouquet de Moisson and Moisson de Perles, where diamonds, yellow sapphires and pearls depict the golden hues of mature wheat fields.
“I like the idea of having a mono theme,” Comar says. “We don’t do it every year but I think it’s important that we believe in what we do and offer the most spectacular things we can. I would rather be more radical and do one single theme; I think it gives the collection strength.”
sdenman@thenational.ae
