Beautiful and famous: the history of Chanel jewellery

If Coco Chanel was one of the most famous and influential women of her time, capable of revolutionising women's style with suits and dream bags, she also left an indelible mark on the collective imagination through her measured yet original choice of jewellery.

“I want to be part of what is happening,” she used to say, and indeed she was the first to create costume jewellery: an elegant style paired with important pieces of fine jewellery, with large, masterfully cut diamonds. But also jewellery combined together, breaking down the boundary between real and synthetic, jewel and bijou. Chanel was the first to mix real and faux pearls, even pairing precious gems with those made artificially from coloured pastes for necklaces, brooches, and bracelets.

Some pieces from her collection were born from the designer’s collaboration with important costume jewellers and goldsmiths, with the goal of completing a fashion look, becoming an extension of the silhouette. Her secret? Knowing how to balance the sobriety of an outfit, often in two tones, with the abundance and richness of the jewellery and bijoux worn — among stones, faux pearls, and precious metals like vermeil, plated metal, and bronze.

And then the pearl — signature of her maison — and the lion, the designer’s zodiac sign, the crosses and the wheat. These last three symbols, in particular, are part of the Byzantine and Baroque themes, signs of the collaboration with jeweller Robert Goossens, which began in 1954.

Later, in 1965, Coco entrusted part of the production to Desrues, blending costume jewellery tradition with technology, introducing new materials, laser engraving, and 3D printing. Each bijou created is immersed in gold, copper or silver, engraved, chiselled, enamelled, painted, dyed, and set before being retouched, polished, and inspected by hand, one by one.

And after Coco Chanel?

Karl Lagerfeld arrived, bringing his contemporary vision to the brand from 1983, reinventing garments and layering necklaces and bracelets. Then came Virginie Viard, under whom the codes and symbols dear to Gabrielle Chanel are emphasised in double Cs, camellias, ribbons, pearls, and leather-woven chains.