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Vogue Singapore
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue Singapore
With Reach For The Stars, Chanel high jewellery gets glamorous
The word 'glamour' has an interesting origin. It comes to us from the Scottish, who in the 1800s derived it from 'grammar'. The idea was that education and erudition, rare and arcane at the time, involved some degree of the magical and the mystical. So glamour became an act of illusion, of some kind of magical trick made to the appearance to mystify and allure. Earlier this month, Chanel introduced Reach For The Stars, its latest high jewellery collection, in the refined, old-world city of Kyoto. The French maison describes this new collection as 'glamour according to Chanel'. In its high jewellery collections, Chanel has explored and iterated on graphical signatures like tweed, lions, and comets—even sports!—but it hadn't yet taken on an abstract idea like glamour. Fortunately for the maison, it had a perfectly apt moment in its history to reference. That's the 1930s, when Gabrielle Chanel was invited by a Hollywood film studio to design costumes and outfits for its stars and starlets. And is there a world more adept at the kind of illusory, smoke and mirrors glamour than Hollywood? Fake worlds built on soundstages and sets; hair, makeup and costumes to turn actresses into larger than life characters; the play of light and shadow to tell grand stories to stir hearts; and the scale of a silver screen to make humans appear as demigods. Chinese dancer Wu Meng-ke at Chanel's Reach For The Stars collection launch dinner, wearing a suite of wing motif designs. Above, Japanese actress and model Nana Komatsu at the same event, wearing comet-themed Take My Breath Away jewels. Courtesy of Chanel Gabrielle Chanel would spend only a little bit of time in Hollywood all told, but her vision has inspired the Chanel Fine Jewellery design studio. An independent woman, wearing unfussy evening dresses with pure lines and streamlined silhouettes. From America, she took on an understanding of how they wore their jewellery: simple but devastatingly chic cascades of diamonds, statement cocktail rings with stones that draw eyes, and imposing necklaces that themselves became the visual centre of a look. The Wings of Chanel masterpiece necklace, set with a Padparadscha sapphire. Courtesy of Chanel The necklace is set with a 19.55-carat cushion-cut Padparadscha sapphire. Reach For The Stars is a story of glamour told in three chapters. The most exciting is perhaps Wings, where Chanel is debuting a new visual motif in its jewellery. These wings are doubly inspired. First, by a Gabrielle Chanel quote on ambition from a September 1938 article in Vogue France: 'If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing'. Second, from a number of Hollywood film costumes that Chanel designed with winged details and silhouettes. The masterpiece of the collection, for instance, is named the Wings of Chanel. It's a necklace with a pair of diamond wings that unfold and wrap sensually around the neck. A line of diamond drops and buttons—evocative of the neckline of a dress—ends with an exceptional 19.55-carat Padparadscha sapphire in a perfect hue of salmony pink and orange. Dreams Come True necklace, with a line of black-coated gold and cascades of diamonds. Courtesy of Chanel The Dreams Come True necklace on view at the collection exhibition held in Kyoto. Courtesy of Chanel In the Comet chapter, Chanel expands on its most foundational design signature in jewellery. The first and only collection of high jewellery that Gabrielle Chanel herself designed was the 1932 Bijoux de Diamants, in which diamond creations were accented with stars and comets. A true standout, and this editor's favourite, is the Dreams Come True necklace. Chanel's Fine Jewellery Creation Studio sought to embody its black and white colour code in jewellery, and took inspiration from the sensual flou drape of an haute couture dress. Hence two woven chains of black-coated gold that trace a neckline, almost as if they were a rolled hem or a French seam. It's contrasted on its sides with a cascade of mixed-cut diamonds, scattered with the airiness of Chantilly lace. At its centre, a comet clasp set with a 6.06-carat DFL diamond. Sky Is The Limit ring in white and yellow gold, set with an emerald-cut 11.11-carat Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond, and with white diamonds. Courtesy of Chanel The collection closes out its thematic triptych with the Lion, the astrological and lucky sign of Gabrielle Chanel. The symbolic strength and boldness of the lion is treated with delicate, masterful subtlety in Reach For The Stars. Chanel has, for example, rendered the lion's head in diamond-set openwork mountings, so that the leonine figure becomes an almost geometric suggestion. On the Sky Is The Limit suite, a vision of a winged lion emerges. The great cat is sculpted as an abstracted, open-worked motif flanked with a mane of marquise-cut and bezel-set round diamonds. On this cocktail ring, a centre stone with the luminous, leonine warmth: an impressive 11.11-carat emerald-cut Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond.

Straits Times
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Style News: Chanel jewellery designer's final collection, Havaianas x Gigi Hadid, Decorte pop-up
Late Chanel jewellery designer takes final bow Celestial motifs are at the centre of French maison Chanel's latest haute joaillerie line Reach For The Stars – the last by its former chief of fine and high jewellery, Patrice Leguereau, who died of illness in November 2024. The swansong of his 15-year tenure is a mix of old and new. Familiar notes, like the long tail of a comet and abstractions of the lion he so favoured – for founder Coco Chanel was a Leo – get much play, but the soft curves of wings make their debut too. Celestial motifs shine in Chanel's haute joaillerie line Reach For The Stars – the last by its former chief of fine and high jewellery, Patrice Leguereau, who died in November 2024. PHOTO: CHANEL White gold and natural polished diamonds recur in the range that includes necklaces, belts, earrings and a tiara. But sapphire proves most effective, appearing in pink, blue and even a subtle yellow, while the soft reds of spessartine garnets and some black spinel add interest. It is quite a romantic line, with some sets approaching Sailor Moon levels of girlishness – granted, they are much more opulent. The piece de resistance is the Wings Of Chanel necklace shaped like a pair of unfurled wings that fit around the neck. It is set with a 19.55-carat padparadscha sapphire of a rare pink, and drops into a string of little moons and stars that can be detached and worn as a bracelet. Info: Contact Chanel for prices Havaianas x Gigi Hadid lands on June 30 Supermodel Gigi Hadid's new capsule collection for Brazilian flip-flop brand Havaianas comprises four styles. PHOTO: HAVAIANAS Supermodel Gigi Hadid's new capsule collection for Brazilian flip-flop brand Havaianas will go live on June 30. Comprising four styles, the drop is the casual footwear brand's buzziest in recent memory, following an appearance by Hadid in late May – feet shod in a butter yellow, square-toe pair of Havaianas. US fashion media was quick to seize on the oddity of her bared ankles and toes – really, the whole paw – on the grotty streets of New York, forecasting a 'flip-flop renaissance'. It is a notion perhaps most amusing in Singapore, where the rubber slipper is ubiquitous. Hadid's set comes in classic Havaianas shapes and candy tones – soft-orange, yellow, purple, and blue and green – with retro, pin-up-inspired prints. Each pair bears her signature on the sole and is packaged in a beach-inspired box, with hanger and postcard. Info: Available from June 30 exclusively at Prices to be announced Decorte's Takashimaya pop-up Decorte's AQ Pore Blackhead Dissolver and AQ Perfumed Hair Mist. PHOTOS: DECORTE From June 19 to 25, Japanese beauty brand Decorte, known for its focus on regenerative skincare, will set up shop at Takashimaya's The Atrium. The week-long pop-up gathers Decorte AQ's skin, hair, body and fragrance products in one place and features two new products. The first, the AQ Pore Blackhead Dissolver ($120), is a cleansing serum meant to smooth pores and dissolve excess oil on the face. It is touted as gentle, going for the lipids in sebum plugs and dissolving them right down to the roots, removing the 'grease' and proteins that clog pores. The second, the AQ Perfumed Hair Mist ($80), gives the locks a sweet Magnolia champaca fragrance. Info: From June 19 to 25 , 10am to 9.30pm at Level 1 The Atrium, Takashimaya, Ngee Ann City, 391A Orchard Road Tyler, The Creator reboots two vintage Converse sneaker styles Two iconic Converse silhouettes from the 1970s are making a comeback in Tyler, The Creator's latest collaboration with the sneaker brand. PHOTO: DOVERSTREETMARKETSINGAPORE/INSTAGRAM Tyler, The Creator's 20th collaboration with sneaker brand Converse arrives in Singapore a t Dover Street Market Singapore on June 20. It is part of a new range named 1908 – the year Converse was founded – in which forgotten archival Converse styles are reimagined by rap's one-time enfant terrible. Two 1970s silhouettes are coming back this time : the Coach Jogger, designed as an Olympic running shoe in 1976, and the Naut-1, a boat shoe circa 1971. The Coach Jogger reboot keeps the narrow look and thin sole of the original, but trades its retro branding for the loopy script of the American rapper's shoe line, le Fleur*. The 1908 Naut-1 styles are going funky too. One design comes in a print of the 34-year-old musician's favourite dog and canine mascot of his apparel line, the Airedale Terrier. Info: Available in-store at Dover Street Market Singapore, 18 Dempsey Road, open from 11am to 8pm daily; and online at DSMS E-shop ( . Prices to be announced Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.


Vogue
05-06-2025
- Business
- Vogue
Chanel Reaches for the Stars With Its High Jewelry Event in Kyoto
As with all Chanel High Jewelry collections, the basis for Reach For The Stars stems from the life of Chanel herself. This time her quote: 'If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing,' provided the impetus for the collection. The pieces are statement-making and intended for red carpet moments—an extension of Chanel's first and only high jewelry collection in 1932. 'Maybe it's a more classic theme in a way, but at the same time it's a very bold and sophisticated approach to the glamorous style of Chanel,' said Dorothée Saintville, the brand's International Product Marketing Director of Watches and Fine Jewelry. As with all Chanel High Jewelry collections, the basis for Reach For The Stars stems from the life of Chanel herself. Photo: Courtesy of Chanel Japanese craftsmanship was a longtime focus of the late Creative Director of Chanel fine and high jewelry, Patrice Leguéreau, who started this collection before he passed away late last year. Saintville stepped in to join President of Watches and Fine Jewelry Frederic Grangié to shepherd this collection to fruition and continue to drive the creative vision and expansion of Chanel High Jewelry. The stone's intense, warm pink tone with hints of orange and yellow embodies Leguéreau's intention to capture the sensation of golden hour, explained Saintville. Photo: Courtesy of Chanel A hero piece of the collection features a significant padparadscha sapphire. The stone's intense, warm pink tone with hints of orange and yellow embodies Leguéreau's intention to capture the sensation of golden hour, explained Saintville. 'When Patrice thought about this collection he said: 'I imagine pieces kissed by the light of the sun at sunrise or sunset.' ' Imagination, romance, and modernism mark this new collection and the inclusion of wings expands its lexicon. 'There is no rule [of the introduction of new symbols],' added Saintville, 'it's part of the endless reinterpretation of our DNA.'


South China Morning Post
04-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Chanel's Reach for the Stars high jewellery debut in Kyoto: how the house drew inspiration from Gabrielle ‘Coco' Chanel's take on Hollywood glamour for one of its ‘most important' collections
The high jewellery grand tour is in full swing. Less than a week after Cartier debuted its new high jewellery collection in Stockholm , Chanel invited a select group of clients, editors and celebrities to Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, for the reveal of its new Reach for the Stars collection. The range is not just a homage to the celestial bodies that have long been a signature of the house's jewellery repertoire, but also a nod to its founder's background. In her one and only high jewellery collection – unveiled in Paris in 1932 – Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel famously used motifs such as the comet for a constellation-inspired line of diamond-embellished pieces that has gone down as one of her most remarkable achievements. Advertisement Wings of Chanel necklace in white gold, platinum and natural polished diamonds with a cushion-cut Padparadscha sapphire. Photo: Handout A couple of years earlier, the designer had travelled to Hollywood, where she designed costumes for movies such as Tonight or Never (1931), starring Gloria Swanson. That short stint in Tinseltown was the starting point for Reach for the Stars, which celebrates Hollywood's golden age and its stars. Pretty much every single piece – from the cheekily named Take My Breath Away and Dreams Come True sets, to the Wings of Chanel necklace – is meant for a glamorous red carpet 'This collection is almost like a dress code,' president of Chanel watches and fine jewellery Frédéric Grangié explained in an interview in Kyoto. 'When I look at the collection and recall some of those movies, I feel that some of the pieces are like evening dresses. It's a very glamorous collection, but when Coco Chanel was in Hollywood she treated glamour in a completely different way. She was coming from a couture background as one of the greatest designers ever, and created very light dresses with a focus on the back and also silk or muslin sleeves, which gave them a 'winged' silhouette.' The comet is back as a leitmotif, appearing in some shape or form in every single piece, but Reach for the Stars truly shines in its introduction of a new motif that Grangié alluded to: the wing. The Take My Breath Away necklace in pink gold, white gold and natural polished diamonds. Photo: Handout Patrice Leguéreau – the late director of Chanel's jewellery creation studio who conjured up this range before his untimely passing last year – was inspired by one of Coco Chanel 's famous maxims: 'If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.'