“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.” Gabrielle Chanel

here is a time, just before sunset, known as the golden hour, when the sun’s kiss bathes the sky in pink and gold light. This fleeting moment is the inspiration for Chanel’s latest high jewellery collection, Reach for the Stars, imagined by Patrice Leguéreau and Chanel’s Fine Jewellery Creation Studio. How else to reach for the stars than with wings outstretched, chasing comets, swept by the majesty and power of lions.

Shown first in Kyoto in early June, then at Paris Haute Couture Week in July, this collection embraces Chanel’s symbols and codes while instilling a dimension that goes beyond high jewellery. There is something mystical about the jewels Chanel presented inside its salons at 18 Place Vendôme. This ensemble of 109 pieces, 90 of which are debuting this year, is the work of Patrice Leguéreau, the visionary director of Chanel’s Fine Jewellery Creation Studio for more than a decade, who passed away in late 2024. A parting gift whose name is almost premonitory… A collection that reaches for the sky

Take a Chance ring in white gold and natural polished diamonds.

Entering the salons on Place Vendôme, immediately the stage is set by one of the collection’s centrepieces, the Wings of Chanel necklace. Wings in openworked white gold and diamonds unfurl around the neck. Cradled between them, a 19.55-carat cushion-cut Padparadscha sapphire glows with pink-orange hues. The pendant of this versatile necklace can be detached and worn as a bracelet. One stands transfixed, unable to tear oneself away, despite the other spectacular pieces that await.

Comets, wings and lions

The Comet, Wings, the Lion. These three symbols of Chanel are interpreted in airy lines, delicate openwork and invisible articulations. Wings become necklaces, urushi lacquer brooches, a dainty head ornament or earrings poised to take flight. The comet — a foundational motif for Chanel high jewellery, first encountered in the Bijoux de Diamants collection of 1932 — appears in multiple guises. The lion, Gabrielle Chanel’s astrological sign (she was born a Leo on August 19th, 1883), exudes strength on a necklace or roars on a winged brooch adorned with a fancy vivid yellow diamond, and on a ring set with a pear-shaped diamond of more than ten carats.

Wings of Chanel necklace in white gold, platinum, natural polished diamonds and a 19.55-carat cushion-cut Padparadscha sapphire. The pendant can be removed and worn as a bracelet, transforming the necklace into a shorter version.

Technique becomes poetry

When in 1932 Gabrielle Chanel designed Bijoux de Diamants, her first high jewellery collection, she insisted that each piece must follow, not restrict, the movements of the woman who wore it. “Some of my necklaces don’t fasten, as the shape of the neck requires; some of my rings wrap around the fingers,” the couturière declared.

Embrace Your Destiny necklace reveals two profiles of a winged lion in white gold and natural polished diamonds. Two pear-shaped D-FL Type IIa pear-shaped diamonds, one 5.62 carats and one 5.60 carats. The hanging diamonds can be detached for shorter wear.

Respectful of Gabrielle Chanel’s desire to empower women with this freedom of movement, Patrice Leguéreau designed each piece to be flexible. Some are transformable, with an emphasis on adjustable structures. Open necklaces drape across the shoulders. Shape-shifting compositions, such as the Wings of Chanel, Dreams Come True and Embrace Your Destiny necklaces, or the Sky is the Limit brooch, bring new dimensions. A technical tour de force, the diamonds set in the comet at the centre of the Dazzling Star choker appear to float in mid-air.

Stones the colour of a fiery sky

The collection is infused with light: openworked elements reveal tender glimpses of skin; almost invisible settings form precious halos while onyx accentuates the brilliance of diamonds, a brushstroke of dark ink on pristine paper.

Dazzling Star necklace in white gold, natural polished diamonds and black lacquer. One 1.06-carat brilliant-cut diamond D-E-F IFVVS.

When Chanel isn’t playing with its historic palette of black and white, making extensive use of white gold and diamonds as a counterpoint to black lacquer and onyx, it weaves in colours that capture the elusive golden hour. The luminous pink sapphires of the Pink Hour necklace, the vivid yellow, cognac and orange diamonds, and the 20.64-carat oval imperial topaz of the Sunny Days necklace, together with the tanzanite beads in a gradation of blues of the After Midnight suite evoke this moment when the sky, abandoning its blue tones, drapes itself in pinks and mauves.

Above: in the workshops. Dreams Come True cuff in white gold, black-coated gold and natural polished diamonds. One 2.01-carat brilliant-cut diamond D-E IFVV. Below: Embrace Your Destiny ring in white gold with one 10.15-carat pear-shaped diamond D-FL.

When the stars align

Patrice Leguéreau dreamed of “pieces of jewellery that are illuminated by the rays of the sunset and beyond, their colours blazing across the horizon. That magical moment between day and night when high jewellery sparkles on the skin.” Reach for the Stars is the fulfilment of this wish. It also resonates like a promise: that of a story which continues to write itself, with the symbols of the past, the craftsmanship of the present, and marvels still to come.

Sunny Days brooch in yellow gold, pink gold, platinum, natural polished diamonds, yellow sapphires, spessartite garnets, yellow beryl and pink spinels. One 13.19-carat pear-shaped garnet.

Chanel has done more than “reach for the stars”. This collection reminds us that, from time to time, stars can come down from the heavens to grace a shoulder.