“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.” Gabrielle Chanel
There is a golden hour that disappears as fleetingly as it appears. That instant when the sky abandons its azure blue to wrap itself in pink and mauve, letting the blazing orange sun sink gently beneath a thin gold line on the horizon. At this end of the day, the sun’s last rays illuminate faces, caress tanned shoulders, and instill every movement with soft magic.
It is within this ephemeral glow part real, part dream that CHANEL situates its vision of glamour. A glamour not defined by excess, but by radiance. Not by convention, but by conviction.
It was with this sense of singular, precious, and unconditional freedom that Gabrielle Chanel set out to conquer her destiny and later, Hollywood. Rejecting the ornamental rigidity of her time, she offered an audacious alternative: gowns of architectural clarity, fabrics that shimmered under spotlights without shouting, and embellishments that whispered rather than roared. Her evening wear, often favouring the curve of a bare back over the drama of a plunging neckline, reflected a glamour that was streamlined, almost sculptural elegance distilled to its essence.
SYMBOLS THAT SHIMMER ON THE SKIN
This golden hour projected in cinemascope becomes the emotional canvas for glamour according to CHANEL, reimagined by Patrice Leguéreau and the CHANEL Fine Jewellery.
“We wanted to create pieces of jewellery that are illuminated by the rays of the sunset and beyond,” they explain, “with those colours blazing across the horizon. Capturing that magical moment between day and night when High Jewelry sparkles on the skin.”
That fleeting transition day surrendering to night becomes a realm of brilliance. In this spirit, the Reach for the Stars collection asserts its paradox: opulence and lightness, architecture and fluidity. The pieces, in CHANEL’s signature monochrome — black and white, or ablaze with vivid coloured stones — honour the diamond as their guiding light, while weaving in three powerful emblems of Gabrielle Chanel: the comet, the wing, and the lion.
Cascades of gems, open chokers, between-the-fingers rings, asymmetrical earrings, cuffs, tiaras, and dramatic brooches define a new high jewellery silhouette — one that embodies both audacity and grace. Voluminous yet supple, dazzling yet wearable, the collection creates a jeweller’s dress code: celestial, architectural, unmistakably CHANEL.
With Reach for the Stars, glamour is no longer something one wears it becomes something one radiates. An invitation not merely to shine, but to ascend.
THE COMET’S FREEDOM TO SHINE
In 1932, for her first and only High Jewelry collection — Bijoux de Diamants — Gabrielle Chanel scattered stars across her designs. “Eternally modern,” she called them. Symbols of freedom, of light, of belief in one’s destiny. To wear a star was to follow one’s own path to claim glamour not as artifice, but as aspiration.
With the Reach for the Stars collection, Patrice Leguéreau and the CHANEL Fine Jewellery Creation Studio reimagine the comet that most cinematic of celestial bodies as a vessel of radiance and strength. In the Blazing Star set, elongated comets trail fine lines of gold and onyx, their geometry heightening the drama of their sparkle. The Dazzling Star choker carries twin diamond pendants at its clasp, falling gently along the spine a secret grace note reserved for those who understand that allure is often found in the back view.
There is lightness, too not only in form, but in spirit. Between-the-fingers rings become constellation-like hand jewels. Earrings appear to float, effervescent with movement, shimmering like stardust caught midair.
Some pieces whisper with restraint. The Dreams Come True necklace evokes the sweep of a couture neckline sculpted in black, dusted with diamonds, fluid as fabric. Others reveal virtuosity in transformation. The Twin Stars necklace becomes two bracelets and two short necklaces one in brilliant diamonds scattered with comets, the other in five rows of deep tanzanite beads, like twilight condensed.
And then, a final tableau a quiet ode. The Silhouette Clock, poised on a black jade base, features the signature octagonal dial. At its centre stands Gabrielle herself: hands in pockets, dressed in her braid-trimmed jacket and trousers, gazing skyward. The eternal dreamer. Watching the stars not for their shine, but for what they promise a horizon that forever expands.
THE ELEGANCE OF WINGS
“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.” Gabrielle Chanel’s words soar through the Reach for the Stars collection — not merely as philosophy, but as form.
For the first time, Patrice Leguéreau and the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio have interpreted the motif of wings in High Jewelry. These openwork jewels, crafted with meticulous attention to articulation and fluidity, float across the skin like lace caught in flight. As light as air, as precise as architecture, they are designed not simply to be worn — but to move, breathe, and live with the body.
The Wings of CHANEL necklace wraps its diamond wings around the neck in a gesture both protective and bold. At its heart lies an extraordinary 19.55-carat Padparadscha sapphire — its rare hue suspended between pink and orange, like the final blush of sunset. The necklace’s long pendant detaches to become a bracelet, its glow continuing across the wrist. The accompanying ring, with an 8.15-carat D-Flawless oval-cut diamond, arcs like a wing that merely brushes the hand delicate, fleeting, unforgettable.
This is glamour in motion. The Free Move necklace traces the curve of the collarbone or spine depending on how it’s worn an intimate versatility that embraces the feminine form. Pretty Wings asymmetrical earrings catch light differently from each profile, while the Full Swing tiara rests gently at the base of the forehead, framing the face with celestial lace.
Each piece is touched by the golden hour’s palette. The Pink Hour necklace glows with luminous sapphires; the Sunny Days brooch gleams in a vivid burst of yellow, cognac, and orange diamonds; and the After Midnight set flows in a quiet cascade of blues, composed of tanzanite beads in tonal gradation like twilight echoing across the horizon.
THE AUDACITY OF THE LION
The lion – Gabrielle Chanel’s astrological sign — was her lifelong protector. She had it roaring from the buttons of her suits, guarding her creative intuition and sense of self. In 2012, it became an emblem of CHANEL Haute Joaillerie. A symbol of power tempered by elegance, of sovereignty softened by style.
For the Reach for the Stars collection, the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio explores the lion in two interpretations.
The first is frontal, declarative a feline head crowned in starlight, its mane encircled by a celestial halo. In the Strong as a Lion set, the creature emerges in white gold, shimmering with white and yellow diamonds like a constellation in motion. In the Be the One set, a stylised silhouette in yellow gold glows with a more minimalist intensity a lion surrounded by an aura of light.
The second interpretation is more sculptural, more subtle the lion in profile, exuding quiet authority. “To express, in a simple way, a personality’s physical aura,” Gabrielle Chanel once said. This ethos finds form in the Embrace Your Destiny necklace, a fluid cascade of ultra-light gold and diamonds punctuated by two mirrored lion profiles, anchored by a dramatic pair of pear-cut stones. In the Sky is the Limit set, winged lions part guardian, part myth wrap around the neck with whispered command, their manes rendered in a lace of gold.
Each piece is a gesture of boldness, shaped in CHANEL’s image: fierce, free, and exquisitely composed.
