For its newest high jewelry collection, Flying Cloud, Chanel channeled the contrasts that made Gabrielle Chanel who she was. The collection’s title is gained from the name of yacht belonging to the second Duke of Westminister, Hugh Grosvenor—a man who was known to have played a great role in Mademoiselle Chanel’s life. A place for vacations and love affairs, the four-masted yacht boasted a black hull and white wooden decks. Like the new collection, it was extravagant and luxurious, but also simple and demanding of necessary details. As Mademoiselle Chanel has said in the past, luxury “is a necessity that starts where necessity stops.”
Shown in two chapters, the collection is full of pieces fit for day and night, at sea and in the air. The first focuses on nautical details, including buoys, ropes, anchors, compasses, and sailor’s tattoos—as we see in the Precious Float, Sparkling Lines, Yachting Day, and Sailor Tattoo sub-collections. Ropes are reimagined, crafted from diamonds and gold. Sapphires, white gold, and diamonds make up the deep, dark waters of the seas. Cultured and lapis-lazuli pearls create a new kind of flotation device.
Flying Cloud collection by Chanel.Courtesy of Chanel.
The second chapter hones in on the expressive freedom and movement of the summer. In Summer Cruise, are deep blue sapphires, white gold, and pearls or yellow and white diamonds. Golden Braid gains inspiration from the braids on marine uniforms, and Sailor Suit shows large yellow or white gold buttons to show details derived from sailors’ jackets. In Sunny Rope, there is a gold bracelet and ring set with diamonds in the shape of a knotted rope, and in Sapphire Series there are bib necklaces and bracelets in white gold, sapphires, and diamonds.
Also debuting are two new pieces dedicated to the Mediterranean breeze: the Azurean Braid, which shows a bib necklace of white gold, sapphires, and cultured pearls in a woven design; and Endless Knot, which offers a motif necklace in white gold and diamonds in a rope design.
Flying Cloud collection by Chanel.Courtesy of Chanel.
Flying Cloud collection by Chanel.Courtesy of Chanel.
