Bal Harbour

Chanel's No. 5 brooch, with a spray of yellow sapphires dripping down a white diamond and white gold bottle. Scent in STONE CHANEL CELEBRATES THE CENTENNIAL OF ITS NO. 5 PERFUME WITH A HIGH JEWELRY COLLECTION THAT BEGS TO ASK: WHAT DO DIAMONDS SMELL LIKE? BY SHANNON ADDUCCI t is universally understood that scent is one of the most powerful ties to memory. And when it comes to perfume, Chanel's No. 5 may be the most recognizable of them all. It is understandable, therefore, that on the occasion of the scent's 100th anniversary, the French luxury house wanted to celebrate with more than a commemorative bottle for the perfume. Instead, it imagined a series of objects—all done in diamonds. With Chanel Fine Jewelry Creation Studio Director Patrice Leguéreau at the helm, the brand created its Collection No. 5. using the bottle's most iconic details to create 123 individual pieces. The high jewelry line is the fi rst ever to be dedicated to a perfume. "I attempted to illustrate, without concession, the power, strength, femininity and incredible richness of the jus," says Leguéreau. To do this, the designer identifi ed fi ve key elements of the perfume: the stopper, the bottle, the number "5," the fl owers and the sillage (how the scent diffuses with the wearer as they move). "We used the visual identity of the bottle to reach into the imagination of the fragrance," Leguéreau explains. "This meant moving from the visible to the invisible, expressing, for example, the olfactory explosion of the perfume and its trace, both tangible and intangible." The results are sparkling pieces that utilize emerald-cut diamonds as the bottle stopper shape or actual rock crystal to replicate a crystal top, for example. In other pieces, different cuts of diamonds cleverly assemble in a setting to reveal the number 5, while rectangular settings outline the shape of the bottle. Diamonds in the shape of jasmine (the scent's key fl oral note) dot ear climbers and between-the-fi nger rings. The more interpretive pieces refer to the fabled sillage, with a spray of diamonds or colored gems such as rubies, garnets, spinels and yellow sapphires running down a décolletage or across a wrist. In a bottle-shaped brooch, the perfume itself is articulated in pear-shaped yellow diamonds that drip down the bottom. At the very top of the collection is the 55.55, a necklace that combines all of these symbols and adds the quite literal interpretation of a 55.55-carat diamond. The center stone, a D-fl awless quality emerald cut, was custom cut specifi cally for the piece and then set in 18-karat white gold with 104 round brilliant diamonds and 42 baguette-shaped diamonds. "We started with a rough diamond that we had cut, not to make the biggest stone possible, but to obtain a perfect octagonal diamond weighing 55.55 carats," said Leguéreau of the piece, which will remain with Chanel as a museum- level display piece. "This is an unprecedented approach." Carats aside, Leguéreau's process through symbolism has its own legacy with the brand, mirroring that of its notoriously superstitious namesake founder. Coco Chanel regularly used specifi c objects as her talismans, from the camelia fl ower and the lion's head to tufts of wheat and the stars of the night sky, all of which is still kept in regular rotation in Chanel's design studios, from haute couture to beauty and fi ne jewelry. Chanel also followed a similar painstaking process when she fi rst developed the No. 5 perfume in 1921, with legendary perfumer Ernest Beaux at her side. Marketed as the fi rst "perfume for women with the scent of a woman," it ushered in a new era of perfume with its scent notes and mysterious name. Leguéreau looked to both the 1921 perfume debut as well as Chanel's groundbreaking 1932 high jewelry debut, the "Bijoux de Diamants" collection of platinum and diamond jewelry to fi nd common ground with today's collection. "They both come into direct contact with a woman's skin," noted Leguéreau on the similarities between scent and sparkle. "Chanel encouraged women to integrate these precious jewels into their outfi ts, to make them their own as elements of style. In both cases, there is the same creative impetus." Chanel's No. 5 brooch, with a spray of yellow sapphires dripping down a white diamond and white gold bottle. It is understandable, therefore, that anniversary, the French luxury house wanted to celebrate with more than a commemorative bottle for the perfume. Instead, it imagined a series of objects—all With Chanel Fine Jewelry Creation Studio stopper shape or actual rock crystal to replicate different cuts of diamonds cleverly assemble rectangular settings outline the shape of the bottle. Diamonds in the shape of jasmine (the scent's key fl oral note) dot ear climbers and between-the-fi nger rings. The more interpretive pieces refer to the fabled sillage, with a spray of diamonds or colored gems such as rubies, garnets, spinels and yellow sapphires running At the very top of the collection is the 55.55, a necklace that combines all of these symbols and adds the quite literal interpretation of a 55.55-carat diamond. The center stone, a D-fl awless quality emerald cut, was custom cut specifi cally for the piece and then set in 18-karat white gold with 104 round brilliant diamonds and 42 baguette-shaped diamonds. "We started with a rough diamond that we had cut, not to make the biggest stone possible, but woman," it ushered in a new era of perfume with its scent notes and mysterious name. Leguéreau looked to both the 1921 perfume debut as well as Chanel's groundbreaking 1932 high jewelry debut, the "Bijoux de Diamants" collection of platinum and diamond jewelry to fi nd common ground with today's collection. "They both come into direct contact with a woman's skin," noted Leguéreau on the similarities between scent and sparkle. "Chanel encouraged women to integrate these precious jewels into their outfi ts, to make them their own as elements of style. In both cases, there is the same creative impetus." I 154 BAL HARBOUR PHOTO COURTESY OF CHANEL

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