The Motifs That Made A Maison: Discover Chanel’s Signes & Symboles High Jewellery Collection
Beasts, blooms and celestial nods to the cosmos come together in a High Jewellery collection that celebrates Coco Chanel’s most intimate amulets – presented at her historic villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
“Accessories are what makes or marks a woman,” Coco Chanel famously said. Often swathed in ropes of replica pearls, rarely seen without sporting her signature Maltese cross cuffs, and regularly adorned with twinkling brooches and pins, Gabrielle Coco Chanel was in fact as deft at jewellery styling as she was at transforming unassuming cloth into couture, nonchalantly mixing humble with haute. If it weren’t for Coco – and perhaps a select cohort or two – then costume jewellery might never have permeated the mainstream fashion collections of the 20th century. What few realise, however, is that Coco Chanel was also the pioneer of the High Jewellery collection, and, even more shrewdly, their glamorous presentations.
In 1932, the French visionary presented ‘Bijoux de Diamants’, 55 pieces of diamond jewellery – widely considered the world’s first High Jewellery collection – at a two-day private viewing for the uppermost echelons of Parisian high society and press. Displaying the jewels shortly after at an elegant exhibition, more than 30,000 visitors paid 20 francs to witness the designer’s dazzling debut. Almost immediately – despite this being the depths of the Great Depression – the stock exchange reflected an upturn in interest in top-dollar diamonds. Coco had officially made the High Jewellery collection a thing.
Today, that High Jewellery presentation phenomenon still packs a punch. Gathering an intimate coterie of the luxury industry’s hallowed circle to La Pausa this summer – Coco’s historic villa in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin – the maison presented its 2026 collection to similar rapture. Titled ‘Signes & Symboles’, the collection speaks to Coco’s sorcery for instilling meaning into each of her creations, whether spun into silk, played out in precious stones, or hidden within the design codes of the designer’s Rue Cambon apartment, where each visit encourages an ultra-luxe game of Where’s Wally – editors routinely search the walls, trinkets and trays for her signature emblems and still find new examples each time they return.
Chanel’s Jewelry Creation Studio has channelled this cast list in spades – from the comets that stretched across the Aubazine night sky above her childhood orphanage and the stars upon the cobblestones in the Cistercian Abbey where Coco would often seek her inspiration, to her favourite camellia blooms, her Leo birth sign, and the Mediterranean sun which she sought out during chic summers. The fact that the collection was presented in La Pausa – with its artful arches and generously geometric architecture – spoke further to Coco’s iconic aesthetic and insistence for meaning. “My jewellery represents an idea,” as she used to say.
The 85-piece oeuvre is divided into four themed chapters that each speak to the opulence of shapes – featuring elaborate plastrons, bandeau necklaces, double-finger rings and unexpected head jewels – while celebrating the potent protagonists of her uniquely-evolved design lexicon. For Les Imprimés, the camellia, the star and the sun step into the spotlight, with sleek arrangements of faceted coloured gemstones and made-to-measure diamonds. The Imprimé Émeraude ring is a highlight – a 10.44 carat emerald framed by a dramatic stage of scintillating diamonds, with camellias stealthily tucked on either side. Meanwhile, the Imprimé Lion necklace, which sprays a waterfall of diamonds upon the décolletage, sports a 20.66 carat sapphire – a nod to the collection’s focus on the ‘Big Four’ in gemstone jargon; emeralds, sapphires, rubies and diamonds.
Within the Lion Emblématique chapter, the maison’s majestic mascot is brought to life across a suite of jewels showcasing tonal topaz and yellow diamonds, as well as a clutch of classic coloured gems. First honouring the lion in its 2012 High Jewellery collection, the Chanel lion’s regal silhouette is now perfectly honed, posing sphynx-like upon the Lion Magistral ring, and its head appearing in almost graphic form upon a flurry of Millénaire designs crafted in audacious onyx, vibrant rubies and keenly white diamonds – irresistibly regimented with Art Deco-esque angles. Elsewhere, the Lion Emblématique brooch is a triumph that illustrates the Studio’s access to an entire rainbow of treasures – rubies, sapphires, turquoise and emeralds come together in a flurry of eclectic cuts.
Perhaps the most meaningful moments within the collection are the Les Symboles and Les Bijoux Talismans designs. The Symbole Camélia Rose ring is an ode to Coco’s best-loved bloom, brought to life in saccharine pink sapphires that swirl around an oval-cut 10.32 carat D Flawless diamond. Meanwhile, devotees to the designer’s fusion of fashion and the finer things will love the four Talisman Gabrielle rings the most – each is crafted from an unapologetically bold hardstone employed as a canvas for four precious amulets – simply pick your poison; camellia, lion, sun, or star.
They are effortlessly imbued with attitude – the kind of High Jewels that could sweep against a mille-feuille tulle skirt or adorn a finger clutching Matthieu Blazy’s cult Maxi Flap bag for a coffee date. In a luxury landscape where it feels easy for High Jewellery to serve as currency instead of a form of creative expression, or something weighted with sentiment to pass down the generations to come, this is a collection that flaunts Coco’s signature defiance. True to her words, it seems the ultimate refusal really is elegance.
Imagery supplied
