5 Things To Know About 'The 55.55 Necklace' From Chanel
If this is not the ultimate tribute to the Chanel N°5 perfume, we don't know what is.
To commemorate the centennial of the iconic N°5 fragrance, Chanel has created the ultimate tribute: a show-stopping high jewellery diamond necklace inspired by the distinctive architecture of the perfume bottle. The crowning glory of the design is an octagonal diamond weighing 55.55 carats that gives the necklace its official moniker: the 55.55 necklace.
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But what do perfumery and jewellery have in common, you wonder? Frederic Grangie, president of Chanel Watches and Fine Jewellery, explains that creating this one-of-a-kind design keeps Coco Chanel's legacy of breaking the rules and taking risks alive.
A 55.55-carat emerald-shaped diamond is the centrepiece of this one-of-a-kind necklace.
He pointed out how the Mademoiselle shook the status quo in 1932 when she entered the rarefied and male-dominated inner circle of Place Vendome jewellers to launch her first and only high jewellery collection Bijoux de Diamants – as a woman and fashion designer no less.
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"I think that everything Gabrielle Chanel bequeathed to us still resonates today. We remain faithful to our history, but we also remain attentive to enriching it and projecting it into the future with the greatest creative freedom," says Grangie. "Because what’s important is creation itself, which lies at the centre of everything."
While this unique piece will not be for sale and will be housed in Chanel's high jewellery atelier at 18 Place Vendome, you can get a closer look at this exceptional piece below.
The necklace pays homage to the bottle design of the N°5 fragrance, a scent concocted by French-Russian perfumer Ernest Beaux who was the personal nose for the Tsar. That scent was ahead of the curve for its multi-faceted notes and its use of chemical components called aldehydes – reportedly an industry first at that time.
Patrice Leguereau, the director of the Chanel Fine Jewellery Creation Studio, reimagined the octagonal silhouette of the bottle and the profile of the lid into a bold abstract strand necklace design with a cascade of pear-shaped diamonds.
This 18K white gold high jewellery piece – think of it as the haute couture creation of the jewellery world – shines with a coterie of diamond cuts and sizes. It features 104 round diamonds and 42 baguette diamonds, while the main star of the piece is the 55.55 carat that's certified D Flawless. To give a gauge of how impressive the stone is, just consider how a pear-shaped D Flawless diamond weighing 50.52 carats sold for US$9.5 million at a Christie's auction in 2012.
Talk about technical expertise. Patrice Leguereau, the director of the Chanel Fine Jewellery Creation Studio, reveals that his team was not obsessed with getting the biggest stone possible, but rather "to obtain a perfect octagonal diamond". Indeed, according to Frederic Grangie, president of Chanel Watches and Fine Jewellery, one of the most intense moments in the necklace's production process was cutting the rough stone to its final weight of 55.55 carats.
The symbolism of the 55.55 necklace is not lost on fans of Chanel who are aware of how superstitious Gabrielle Chanel was and considered the number five as one of her lucky talismans.
In fact, she stuck to the N°5 when Ernest Beaux presented the fragrance prototype to her as she thought it was auspicious. She told Beaux: "I present my dress collections on the fifth of May, the fifth month of the year and so we will let this sample number five keep the name it has already, it will bring good luck.”
Hence, besides the symbolic carats of the octagonal diamond, the designers have moulded the clasp of the necklace in the shape of a figure of five.
The 55.55 necklace gives you a preview of more high jewellery creations that will take inspiration from the iconic fragrance. It will sit within the new Collection N°5 – the first high jewellery collection by the maison to be dedicated to a perfume – that will be launched in May. The collection will comprise 123 pieces and be the largest high jewellery collection created by Chanel.