It was during her love affair with the Duke of Westminster (she met him in the mid-1920s) that Gabrielle Chanel affirmed her taste for tweed. Her fascination for the suppleness of tweed started when she had borrowed sportswear from her beau. Soon, she enlisted a Scottish factory to produce the fabric. Mademoiselle Chanel always preferred a quality of wool that was less washed to preserve its softness, and she prided herself on being able to recognise tweed that had been specifically rinsed in the waters of the River Tweed.
Tweed Couture Necklace
Tweed made a lasting impact on her stylistic vocabulary. An essential element of her wardrobe, she was the first fashion designer to borrow tweed from menswear and adapt it to the womenswear. She created it for a woman like her – someone who travelled, drove cars and enjoyed sports. While variations of this fabric have appeared on clothes and accessories, early this year in January, Chanel unveiled its first-ever high jewellery collection dedicated entirely to tweed.
The collection, featuring 45 exceptional handmade pieces, was conceived to express the distinctive characteristics of tweed. Responding to the depth and richness of this fabric, precious materials were interwoven, articulated and finely wrought in the manner of a tweed weft, which could be found in the very structure of the pieces.
TWEED D’ÉTÉ necklace in white and yellow gold, set with white and yellow diamonds, and one 7.10-carat cushion-cut yellow diamond
Chanel developed special articulation techniques, breathing the vitality of movement into solid gold and honouring the beautiful irregularity of tweed that so delighted Gabrielle Chanel. Diamonds, pearls and sapphires are layered and intertwined on several plains, creating necklaces, rings and bracelets with splendorous textured effects.
