Courtesy of Chanel
Steeped in 115 years of history, the house of Chanel is rife with legends. With its signature style, enduring motifs, and larger-than-life figures (Gabrielle Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld, of course), it has firmly cemented its place in the culture of luxury. One of its quieter but no less impactful creatives, Patrice Leguéreau, led Chanel’s jewelry design for 15 years before passing away in 2024. His final magnum opus, which debuted earlier this year in Kyoto, is an opulent high-jewelry necklace with diamond-set wings and a diamond-drop pendant capped with a massive orange-pink 19.55-carat padparadscha sapphire.
The concept, as always at Chanel, began with its founder. The piece embodies one of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s clever quips: “If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.” While the brand frequently makes use of her personal symbols, from lions to camellias, this necklace marks the introduction of wings as a new visual motif.
No detail was spared in its creation, thus presenting the house with an extraordinary challenge in craftsmanship. “It [took] approximately two and a half years between the first sketches and the reveal of the collection—except the sourcing of the stones that sometimes can be even longer,” says Dorothée Saintville, international high-jewelry and fine-jewelry marketing director at Chanel. “This masterpiece is about 1,500 hours of work in our high-jewelry workshop in Place Vendôme.” It’s a beautiful send-off—and an extraordinary testament to Leguéreau’s artistry. The necklace stands as a fitting tribute not only to Chanel’s late director of jewelry creation but to the maison’s founder herself—and to the artisans who continue to work tirelessly behind the scenes to elevate beauty and craftsmanship to new heights.
1. Fine Settings
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel An artisan works on the fine setting of the necklace’s clasp.
2. Metal Checking
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel The metal components of the wings are checked against a 3-D-printed rendering of the final design. “Patrice, I remember, always told me, ‘I want this wing to be worked like lace,’ ” Saintville says. “To give that feeling, and to give the mobility, that was a big challenge.”
3. Bezel Finishing
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel Pliers and tweezers are used to delicately check that the wing’s bezel is stable and well-shaped before setting the diamonds.
4. Comparisons
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel A plume set with baguette-cut diamonds is compared to the wing’s frame.
5. Detaching Details
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel An artisan checks the pendant’s detaching mechanism, which allows the wearer to transform it into a bracelet. “Starting with the Bijoux de Diamants in 1932 is this ability to create pieces that you can transform and wear differently,” explains Saintville, referring to a certain ease and wearability inherent to the maison’s D.N.A.
6. Hand polishing
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel An artisan hand-polishes the 18-karat-white-gold diamond-set pendant with threads of cotton.
7. Bezel Setting
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel The bezel that will cradle the exceptional sapphire is set into the frame of the necklace.
8. Refinements
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel A micromotor handpiece with a rotary burr at its tip is used to refine the setting before a diamond is placed in its center.
9. Artisan Inspection
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel An artisan inspects the setting of the diamonds in the necklace’s frame throughout the process to ensure each element is perfectly placed.
10. Diamond Orienting
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel The orientation of the marquise-cut diamonds is designed to give a sense of movement, as if the wing is taking flight.
11. Final Adjustments
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel Final adjustments are made to the diamonds, while a placeholder stone is kept at the center to make tweaks before the sapphire is set.
12. Ready to Fly
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel Because of its size, color, and cut, the padparadscha sapphire was extremely challenging to source. “You see that the color is really a perfect balance between orange and pink. This is really extremely rare,” says Saintville. “Patrice said, ‘I imagine the pieces kissed by the light of the sun at sunset or dawn, with these colors on the horizon—that magical moment between day and night when the high jewelry sparkles on the skin.’ ”
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