Coco Avant Chanel high jewellery collection pays tribute to fashion house's founder

The Gabrielle Chanel necklace is centred around a pear-cut diamond with a total weight of 10.02 carats. Courtesy of Chanel Fine Jewelry

For its latest high-jewellery collection, Chanel presents an intimate look at its formidable founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

Coco Avant Chanel consists of eleven jewellery sets intended to capture Gabrielle’s inimitable spirit – the quest for freedom and lightness, combined with an undeniable desire for sobriety, that defined her style. Each bears the name of an inspiring woman who accompanied or influenced Gabrielle pre-1920, in the turbulent years before she became a revered fashion icon.

The two overriding motifs in this new collection, lace and ribbon, are Chanel hallmarks, used by Gabrielle to decorate the boater hats that she wore to the races. In Coco Avant Chanel, these motifs are reimagined in gold and precious gemstones, and in subtle gradations of rose and grey. Elsewhere, morganite, pearls, spinels, moonstones and padparadscha sapphires are set against diamonds to stunning effect.

The bejewelled ribbons are given the freedom to move: presented loose, draped, wound or knotted in ethereal loops, their edges sometimes sharp, and at other times frayed with diamonds. Meanwhile, simplified and stylised representations of lace take the form of camellia flowers and birds, in another nod to the House of Chanel’s most enduring symbols.