Earrings Chanel

Chanel earrings: A story of gold, diamonds and heritage

When their earrings exude the spirit of Chanel with their ribbon, feather and shooting star designs, they can truly enhance a woman's face. These motifs are all a direct tributes to the world of Gabrielle Chanel, and have become a legendary part of the House's jewellery department. The ribbon, and the idea of being tied or untied, is reinterpreted by Chanel with the play between white gold and diamonds and is also a nod to couture. Stylish, graceful and always fluttering, ribbons recall the founder of the House's natural elegance as she decorated her boaters with them when she went to the racetracks at the beginning of the 20th century. Chanel's ribbon earrings balance yesterday with today, as do the plume de Chanel models, another of the Maison's great classics. For Gabrielle Chanel, the feather symbolised movement and freedom. ""If you are born without wings,"" she said, ""don't do anything to prevent them from growing"". The feather also brings to mind the designer's only fine jewellery exhibition in 1932.

The delicacy of camellia petals; jewellery expertise

Bijoux de diamants was also an opportunity for Mademoiselle to ""take down the stars from the Paris sky to cover women with constellations"". This is why the shooting star, the comet and the sun still feature so prominantly in Chanel's earring collections to this day. They can be found on earrings, pendant earrings and hoops, always in 18-carat white gold and diamonds and sometimes embellished with cultured pearls. Any description of Chanel's iconic motifs would not be complete without mentioning the camellia, the simple flower so adored by Coco that it became her emblem. The Parisian House recreates the camellia in white or rose gold on its current models of earrings, with the meticulously designed buds and petals demonstrating the incredible expertise and delicate touch of its jewellers. Offering further proof that earring design is certainly an art, but in a more baroque style, are Chanel's Sous le signe du lion earrings. The lion's head is carved from yellow gold, its mane paved with diamonds and a disc of fine stone provides the medal-like feel.

The quilted pattern of the Coco Crush collection

Wanting to create jewellery with movement and freedom and which can be worn on a daily basis, in 2015 Chanel launched a jewellery collection called Coco Crush. The Place Vendôme design studio became inspired by matelassé, a material that Gabrielle Chanel herself had borrowed from the equestrian world, and drew intersecting lines on gold, ""combining softness and strength, roundness and rigour"". Coco Crush earrings, easily recognised by their distinctive lines and curves, proudly bear Chanel's new iconic motif. These earrings are available in smooth or diamond-paved white, yellow and beige gold, an alloy exclusive to the House, and even mixed materials. With the spirit of movement and freedom always in mind, Coco Crush dangling earrings split into two earrings to clip onto your lobe, or the centre or top of your ear, one in 18-carat white gold, the second in beige gold.