Can High Jewellery Be Sporty? Chanel Says Oui

Pushing boundaries is nothing new for Chanel. Founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel liberated women from corsets, made suntanning trendy and dreamed up the brand’s icons — like the tweed suit, quilted chain-handle handbag and two-tone pumps. And because she loved golfing, skiing, yachting, fishing and horseback riding in her off-hours, she invented sportswear — not that it was called that, back then.

At her first boutique, opened in Deauville in 1913, she sold clothes made of jersey — a material previously used to make men’s underwear — to allow freedom of movement. And as early as 1921, she created a “sport” atelier within her haute-couture house at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris.

Also nudging things forward is Patrice Leguéreau, director of the Chanel Jewelry Creation Studio, located in the Place Vendôme in Paris.

“He really wants to push boundaries as well,” notes Marianne Etchebarne, global head of watches and fine-jewellery product marketing, clients and communication. Etchebarne is speaking from an exhibition space tucked deep under the Chanel flagship in Monaco, where the brand’s latest fine jewellery is being unveiled. Called Haute Joaillerie Sport, the collection was conceived by Leguéreau over the span of several years, including the seven it took to amass a grouping of five superb Kashmir sapphires.

His main aim? To capture the spirit of ease and mobility that was central to Mademoiselle Chanel’s philosophy, both literally and figuratively.

“She promoted the active life of women, making them in charge of their destiny like she was in charge of her own destiny,” Etchebarne says.

One of her many achievements was designing and building La Pausa, her vacation home just 15 minutes away, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Asymmetry is just one of the codes that Leguéreau has used to give the collection a sense of movement — especially in the necklaces, many of which can be worn short or as a sautoir.

“We have more than 20 pieces that are transformable, which is something that our customers love,” Etchebarne says.

There are stones that rotate, cocktail rings that come apart and a cuff that can be sported in several combinations of diamonds and carbon fibre and has been laser-engraved with “Chanel.”

“When you look at it closely, it looks texturized like fabric, and the letters are very precise,” Etchebarne points out. “This was a big challenge.”

Technical wizardry also shines in a necklace style called Sporty 5, where the legendary house numeral has been playfully distorted into a working diamond carabiner that clips at a variety of points up and down a diamond strand — a luxe sort of rock climbing, you might say. The aforementioned diamonds are sometimes set in circles of red or black lacquer, which is just one of the contemporary motifs that give this collection a fresh, fun personality that is rare in the world of precious gems. Rubies, emeralds and garnets are occasionally edged in coloured aluminum that matches their hues precisely, lending the primary shades even more punch.

“Assertive” is how Etchebarne describes the unexpected materials and colour combinations. One of her personal favourites is an electric-orange mandarin garnet set amid green lacquer stripes.

Body awareness, a key ingredient for success in any athletic pursuit, comes through in designs that conform to the anatomy. “A tubular chain in gold is completely supple and really gives the feeling of having a sweater on,” Etchebarne describes.

There’s a refreshing sense of playfulness, too, which aligns perfectly with the sport theme. Gold and diamond drawstrings, like you might find on a hoodie, dangle from scatterings of diamonds that cutely resemble bubbles in a Champagne flute. The “No. 5” on a lacquer and diamond ring is a nod to the numbers on an ’80s-style digital clock. Even the Chanel letters are presented in a joyful jumble, like they just bounced off a trampoline. And the codes of the house — stars, lions, quilting and black and white — are represented in a variety of amusing ways.

The star of this show, though, is the necklace worn by house ambassador Keira Knightley to a ballet performance and dinner at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, an opulent theatre overlooking the superyachts that jam the nearby port. Knightley sipped Champagne while others admired her 10.15-carat cushion-cut sapphire nestled amid a spectacular mess of diamonds and bordered by a row of tilted ruby baguettes. The diamond clasp at the back of Knightley’s neck was a functioning closure from one of Chanel’s most iconic designs — the 2.55 handbag. It’s a technical achievement that, to use a fitting sport motif, is truly a leap.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s Winter 2025 issue. Find out more here.