“1932” by Chanel – interview with Patrice Leguéreau

In this exclusive interview, Patrice Leguéreau tells us the inspiration and his vision behind CHANEL’s new high jewellery collection “1932”.

Patrice Leguéreau, Director of the CHANEL Jewelry Creation Studio, has created the “1932” collection, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the “Bijoux de Diamants” High Jewelry collection designed by Gabrielle Chanel in 1932.

With the “1932” collection you celebrate for the second time the anniversary of the “Bijoux de Diamants” High Jewelry collection created by Mademoiselle Chanel. What is the look of this new collection?

In 2012, I wanted to reinterpret the entirety of the original collection, with its symbols of the sky (comet, moon and sun) and of couture (feather, ribbon, and fringe). In 2022, I have chosen to concentrate exclusively on the celestial theme, the comet, the moon, and the sun, embodied in just one piece in 1932, but in 2022 becomes an icon in its own right.

How do you renew a theme that was treated with such boldness and magnificence in “Bijoux de Diamants”?

I wanted to create a different vision of this legacy, by setting these celestial elements in motion. To do this, I have given figurative expression to the shimmer of the comet, the halo of the moon, and the radiance of the sun. These graphic motifs, often detachable, amplify the brilliance of the jewels. The choice of stones and their settings were also designed with this in mind. In addition to diamonds, I have also introduced colour, using exceptional gemstones to represent the celestial universe: blue diamonds, yellow diamonds, blue and yellow sapphires, opals, and rubies.

The volumes of the jewellery seem different this time, even more feminine and more refined than in your previous collections.

The spirit of movement, freedom and flexibility inspired by Mademoiselle Chanel in 1932 is celebrated in the transformable nature of some of the pieces. Elements of the necklaces may be detached and worn as brooches, while the central stones can be used to enrich a ring or earrings. Each jewel is composed of a line of diamonds adorned with a celestial motif. The purity of the lines is specifically designed to enhance the beauty of the stones, especially the diamonds, which have been selected in a variety of shapes to create depth and different graphic rhythms.

What would you like us to remember about the “1932” collection?

At CHANEL, we are reinventing the key themes from the “Bijoux de Diamants” collection to honour and celebrate the vision that Mademoiselle Chanel set out to bring to the world of High Jewelry in 1932. “I wanted to cover women in constellations,” she would say. I hope that this is what we have achieved, by sprinkling showers of diamonds over their décolleté , putting scintillating comets around their wrists, and presenting them with celestial shapes, illuminating womens’ own radiance.

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About Patrice Leguéreau

Patrice Leguéreau took over the direction of the CHANEL Fine Jewelry Creation Studio in February 2009.
A graduate of the École Boulle, where he specialised in the Métiers ‘art of modelled engraving, and of the Institut National de Gemmologie, Patrice worked at Cartier for 6 years and then at Van Cleef & Arpels for 11 years.
Since his arrival at CHANEL he has been designing two High Jewelry collections every year as well as the Jewelry collections, the Precious Objects, such as William Christie’s academician sword, and the made-to-measure pieces using exceptional precious stones.
Since 2009, Patrice Leguéreau has created the first lion collections, emblem of
CHANEL Jewelry, and has revisited the iconic symbols including the feather, the
comet and the wheatsheaf. In 2012, he imagined 80 pieces as a tribute to the 1932
Bijoux de Diamant collection. He also draws inspiration from the Fashion themes and transposes them into jewellery creations as with the COCO CRUSH collection which interprets the famous quilting and the FLYING CLOUD High Jewelry collection based on the cruise theme.

All material courtesy of CHANEL.