From Hollywood dreams to haute joaillerie: Chanel’s Reach for the Stars high jewellery debuts in Kyoto
Picture Gabrielle Chanel taking 1930s Hollywood by storm. While others dressed actresses in heavy and restrictive gowns, Chanel designed structured pieces with fabrics that worked with the body rather than against it.
Chanel understood what others missed: true glamour is not about following rules—it is about breaking them with intent. Yet even as she rejected conventional luxury, she admired the unapologetic confidence of American jewellery: diamond cascades, multi-carat cocktail rings and bold necklaces. And in 1932, she went on to create the world’s first, and her only, high jewellery collection titled Bijoux de Diamants.
Nearly a century later, the late Patrice Leguéreau and the Chanel Jewellery Creation Studio have reinterpreted her ambitious spirit in Reach for the Stars, a 109-piece high jewellery collection that was first showcased in the Kyoto National Museum. This was followed by a celebration gala at Shogunzuka Seiryuden temple. As the late Leguéreau explained: “We wanted to create pieces of jewellery that are illuminated by the rays of the sunset and beyond, with those colours blazing across the horizon. Capturing that magical moment between day and night when high jewellery sparkles on the skin.”
Tatler tells you all you need to know about the Chanel Reach for the Stars high jewellery collection. In case you missed it:9 celebrity jewellery looks that made a statement
Nana Komatsu at the Reach for the Stars collection launch in Kyoto (Photo: Chanel)
Fala Chen and Aokbab at the Reach for the Stars collection launch in Kyoto (Photo: Chanel)
Gabrielle Chanel had a talent for making symbols personal. She wore her astrological sign, the lion, on jacket buttons because she understood that real power comes from owning who you are. She scattered stars across her designs because she believed everyone should chase their lucky star. And her famous words—“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing”—became a rallying cry for dreamers. The collection updates this symbolic language of the stars, wings and the lion with pieces that speak to the bold American jewellery that she admired.
For starters, the comet pieces extend her outlook on the star motif as being “eternally modern” with transformable elements. Notably, the Twin Stars necklace can also be worn as two bracelets and two short necklaces—one with diamond-studded comet motifs, the other strung with five rows of tanzanite beads.
Star motifs in the Reach for the Stars high jewellery collection (Photo: Chanel)
Star motifs in the Reach for the Stars high jewellery collection (Photo: Chanel)
The wings make their haute joaillerie debut. For starters, the Wings of Chanel necklace features articulated diamond wings that unfold around the neck, centered by a 19.55-carat padparadscha sapphire with a pink-orange glow. An accompanying ring, set with an 8.15-carat oval diamond, depicts a wing that hovers above the hand.
And the lion? While the Strong as a Lion pieces call to the impressive cocktail rings that dominated Hollywood parties, the Embrace your Destiny necklace offers something more subtle yet commanding—two lion silhouettes flanking impressive pear-shaped diamonds. Beyond embodying its founder’s quiet confidence, the piece nods to a love of dramatic diamond pairings in American jewellery.
Wings of Chanel necklace (Photo: Chanel)
Embrace your Destiny necklace (Photo: Chanel)
Chanel’s originator understood that luxury shouldn’t be a burden. Her jewellery philosophy—though she created only one high jewellery collection in her lifetime—centered on pieces that enhanced rather than overwhelmed. The Free Move necklace embodies this belief: its aerial wings shift and flow, emphasising the curve of a bare back or the elegance of a neckline, depending on how it’s worn.
The collection’s final piece tells the most compelling story. The Silhouette Clock features Chanel herself, standing on a black jade base with that famous octagonal dial, hands in her pockets, eyes lifted to the sky above. Dressed simply in her signature braid-trimmed jacket and trousers, she represents everything this collection stands for: the belief that looking up towards your dreams is the most elegant gesture of all.
Chanel reimagines the Kyoto Shogunzuka Seiryuden temple (Photo: Chanel)
Chanel reimagines the Kyoto Shogunzuka Seiryuden temple (Photo: Chanel)
Chanel reimagines the Kyoto Shogunzuka Seiryuden temple (Photo: Chanel)
Chanel reimagines the Kyoto Shogunzuka Seiryuden temple (Photo: Chanel)
In choosing Kyoto for the collection debut, Chanel recognised something its founder always knew: true luxury speaks a universal language of aspiration. For today’s collectors, particularly those in Asia who understand both heritage craftsmanship and contemporary innovation, the Reach for the Stars high jewellery collection offers something valuable—jewellery that carries not just beauty, but the spirit of a woman who taught the world that the only rules worth following are the ones you write yourself.
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