Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/94837
Fontaine high-jewelry 1932 tribute necklace in 18k white gold set with a 1.5 carat round diamond and 74 round-cut diamonds, totaling 19.3 carats. In this tribute collection, we wanted to honor that." asked about the Comète necklace, Chanel would relate to one journalist how she glanced up at the sky one night while strolling the Champs-Élysées, contemplating how she would imbue fine jewelry with her singular aesthetic, and she found her answer among the stars: "I wanted to cover women in constellations," she said. As with so many of Chanel's recollections throughout her life- time, it's debatable whether this moment actually occurred or perhaps was a romantic tale she conjured to enhance her mythol- ogy. But it's undeniable that "Bijoux de Diamants" represented a significant step forward for Chanel and her house, as it combined her philosophies of craft, artistry, and modern femininity into a new medium that also happened to be the priciest of the métiers that fell under the Chanel label. And while the woman who counted Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dalí among her coterie had nothing left to prove, surely she appreciated the acclaim that sur- rounded the debut, which praised her artistry and innovation in equal measure. Wrote one reviewer: "Nothing more harmonious, more sump- tuous, or lighter could be imagined than these stars that appear to gently glide around the neck, or these little bows with their air of innocence or these fringes set on tiaras like sparkling and magical strands of hair." E ight decades later, Chanel's inaugu- ral fine-jewelry collection is being celebrated with an 80-piece, high- jewelry tribute that has been titled, simply, "1932." The collection debuted in Beijing in March and then in Paris in early July; following a US debut in October in New York (fittingly, in a space adjacent More than two years in the making, "1932" takes its cue from Chanel's original creations: You'll see an updated version of that iconic Comète necklace, with a five-pronged star that has been reinterpreted to showcase at its center a 15 carat diamond. "Here's the most exciting thing about that piece," says Barbara Cirkva, fashion division president for Chanel. "The same work- shop that crafted the original Comète necklace continues to work for us, and did [the 1932 tribute] necklace as well. That is a wonderful statement not only about our history, but our commit- ment to continue crafting this art form within Paris." While respecting the past is key, the tribute collection also exhibits an undeniable versatility and look forward, an idea Chanel encour- aged in her original collection and would undoubtedly appreciate. Start with the sautoir necklaces, in which sun pendants can instantly become brooches, while drippy chains that form a portion of a necklace could serve double-duty as bracelets (an homage to the notion that Chanel loved convertible jewelry). Then move on through to those 80th- anniversary pieces featuring new inspirations, most "I wanted to cover women in to the Museum of Modern Art), at press time this homage of diamonds and platinum, gold and pearls, rock crystal and sap- phires was headed to Tokyo. As a tribute to Chanel's inspiration, organizers have turned the various exhibit spaces into a de facto Chanel Planetarium, a dazzling observatory in which constellations on a domed sky share equal space with the brilliance of haute-couture jewels. There, clients are afforded the opportunity to view the history and heritage inherent in Chanel's attitude toward fine jewelry—which, unsurprisingly, walked a of freedom into everything she did, and that extended to the jewelry as well," Comar says. "She freed women from very stiff, trophy-oriented jewelry, and in my opinion transformed the industry with what she created. to the history and heritage of Coco Chanel and her fascination with comets and stars," she says. "We've never been able to share that on a large scale." Ultimately, Chanel's mastery of craft is without question the integral component of this celebratory collection. "To show 80 pieces of high jew- elry in one room, that's almost unheard of," Cirkva says, noting that a few pieces have been added since the tour started, jewels crafted from those same Paris workrooms that Mademoiselle Chanel ventured into long ago. similar path as her approach to ready-to-wear. "Chanel translated the idea Whether rooted in legend or reality, certainly Coco Chanel would appre- ciate her house's reasoning behind such an idea. "High jewelry is really all about the dream and the creation of that dream," she says. Cirkva smiles as she adds, "We had to keep a few secrets." V VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 127 Coco Chanel said. constellations," significantly a grouping of lion-inspired jewels in rutile quartz or rock crystal. These lat- ter pieces are a sort of tribute-within-the-tribute to the designer, who was a Leo and famously loved astrology. "The lion pieces are quite spe- cial," Comar says. "Chanel [herself] never used the lion as inspiration or jewelry, and yet it was very important to her." effort Touring the collection requires a Herculean in planning, but it's unquestionably worth the effort, Cirkva says. "It's a great oppor- tunity to explore how the fine jewelry ties back