Joining the ranks of Chanel’s icons is the lion, a symbol that has come to represent Coco Chanel’s strength and resilience. Come face to face with the majestic beast in glorious high jewellery iterations when Chanel’s Sous le Signe du Lion collection prowls into town this April.
I am a bee born under the sign of a lion,” Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel liked to say, alluding at once to both her industrious nature and her star sign, Leo. “Women who share this sign are hardworking, courageous, loyal and undaunted.” Little wonder, then, that Benjamin Comar, international director of Chanel Fine Jewellery, saw it fit to release an exclusive collection dubbed Sous le Signe du Lion, or “Under the Sign of the Lion” back in 2013.
The Chanel haute joaillerie collection, which will has been on a world tour and arrives in Singapore this April for VIP customer viewings, was entirely dedicated to the favourite feline of the brand’s late, great founder.
A highly superstitious woman, Coco Chanel loved to surround herself with good luck charms and favourable symbols, including four-leaf clovers, stars, suns and, indeed, lions. But how did the king of the jungle become such an important muse for the designer?
Coco Chanel was born in 1883 under humble circumstances. Her mother died young and, with her father working as an itinerant vendor frequently on the move, Gabrielle was sent to a convent school at the age of 12. It was there as a teenager, amid long corridors decorated with crescent moons and five-pointed stars, that her fascination with celestial symbols began to take root.
Having left the convent as a young woman, and following stints as a seamstress and stage singer, Coco Chanel was inspired by society ladies’ headwear—which she mocked as looking like “pies”—to make her own hats. Then, in 1910, she met Arthur Capel, the English gentleman who would become the love of her life. Capel helped fund the designer’s millinery salon, Chanel Modes, on rue Cambon in Paris (where the brand’s famed flagship still stands). Favoured by actresses and celebrities, her hats were a great success, and she soon turned her distinctive eye to clothing.
Ditching petticoats for trousers, and corsets for snug jersey dresses, the designer famously pronounced that “simplicity is the key note for elegance”, and her understated and comfortable classics soon transformed the way women dressed. Chanel’s business boomed and the rest is fashion history, but fate struck in 1919, when Capel was killed in an automobile accident, leaving the designer devastated.
Taking refuge in Venice, Coco Chanel sought solace in the silence of ancient churches, and slowly emerged from her grief. In her explorations of the city she had become enchanted by the ubiquitous winged lion motif—the symbol of Venice’s great guardian Saint Mark—that adorns street corners, door knockers, palaces and churches across the Italian city. Seeing it as a sign of destiny, she embraced and drew peace and strength from the emblem to rebuild her life. The lion now occupied pride of place in Coco’s world.
Once back in Paris, Coco Chanel decorated her apartment with lions in all shapes and sizes, with the most striking example resting its paw on a large globe. The designer also incorporated lions into her collections—on gold suit buttons, on brooches and handbag clasps. Over the years, she would return to Venice again and again, finding comfort in the lions protecting the city. It was this poignant story that led Comar to create the Sous le Signe du Lion collection.
Though many of us are familiar with the double Cs, the tweed suits, the quilted bags, and the pearls and camellia motifs synonymous with Chanel, the lion has previously proved curiously shy. And though Karl Lagerfeld did fill the dome of the Grand Palais with a monumental golden lion as backdrop to his autumn/winter 2010 haute couture show, this was the first time that Coco’s big cats got their claws so firmly into a Chanel collection. (There was a sneak preview in 2012, when the king of the jungle, sculpted from quartz or set in diamonds, padded through the commemorative 1932 collection, which celebrated the 80th anniversary of the designer’s first dabblings in fine jewellery.)
That year, in the grip of the Great Depression, the International Guild of Diamond Merchants had invited Coco Chanel to design a jewellery collection in an effort to bring sparkle back to the precious stone in troubled financial times. Employing the same carefree spirit that she had used to great effect in fashion, the designer created her Bijoux de Diamants pieces, which were “to be like a ribbon on a woman’s fingers” and “supple and capable of being taken apart”. One piece, an ingenious fringed necklace, could morph into a bracelet and a brooch. Another featured a constellation of stars that shot around the neck of the wearer. Other pieces looked like diamond-encrusted ribbons and feathers.
Chanel’s whimsical designs turned the jewellery world on its head. However, “in fashion,” she once said, “you know you have succeeded when there is an element of upset”, and when haute joaillerie’s old guard deemed the collection outrageous, much of it was dismantled. It is believed that only a handful of pieces from the first and last jewellery collection designed by Coco Chanel are left in existence today.
More than six decades later, in 1993, the brand resurrected fine jewellery with a collection inspired by Bijoux de Diamants pieces, and today the Chanel Joaillerie boutique stands in Place Vendôme in Paris. Its collections are always inspired by the life of fashion’s grande dame, and stay true to her principles of creativity, fluidity and freedom. “That is something we have always stuck with in our fine jewellery creations—that our pieces are full of freedom,” says Comar, “for us, creativity always comes first, and other contributing factors, such as techniques and materials, are all at the service of aesthetics. That’s how we always manage to bring surprises with our creations.”
When the Sous le Signe du Lion collection strode onto the scene, it uncompromisingly captured the feline’s beauty and majesty. The collection’s largely monochromatic palette resulted from extensive use of white gold, pearls and diamonds. “White diamonds were the obvious choice to fully express the lion’s strength,” says Comar. “Of course, they were Gabrielle Chanel’s favourite gemstone, and she dedicated her first and unique high jewellery collection, Bijoux de Diamants, to diamonds. One of her most-heard quotes about it is: ‘If I have chosen diamonds, it is because they represent the greatest value in the smallest volume.’”
With the brand having consolidated all jewellery design under one roof in 2012, the collection comprised the first pieces crafted in the brand’s new workshop at its Fine Jewellery headquarters in Place Vendôme. The workshop is testament to Chanel’s commitment to creativity and the fostering of excellence in craftsmanship. “After integrating our creation studio in 2009,” says Comar, “and then our high jewellery workshop in 2012, today we have all the resources and know-how at our disposal to take on this type of challenge.”
Following the Sous le Signe du Lion collection, Chanel has sought to incorporate the feline in its various ongoing collections: it featured more recently as part of Chanel’s newest high jewellery collection, Cafe Society, in the form of a gold and diamond ring.
Chanel’s intimate ties to the emblematic lion do not stop there, however, and the house is making a generous contribution to safeguard the lion of Saint Mark’s Basilica by funding its restoration. Comar says, “It’s purely a coincidence that the lion is on a blue mosaic background with stars, the symbol of Chanel Fine Jewellery.”
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