Used to make everything from co-ord jackets and skirt to dresses and bags, there is no Chanel fabric more iconic than tweed. Introduced in 1924, when Gabrielle Chanel enlisted a Scottish factory to produce a sophisticated version of the woollen material for the house’s designs, tweed became an integral part of both her personal wardrobe and the maison’s menswear and womenswear lines.
A woven fabric, tweed can be produced to feature a number of effects, from tight to textured, plaited and twill. In 2020, Patrice Leguéreau, the director of Chanel’s fine jewellery creation studio, first took inspiration from the coarse material, reinventing tweed as we know it with gold, platinum and precious stones. A collection of 45 textured rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and watches made up Tweed de Chanel, each mimicking its irregular characteristics.
Making a resin maquette to create the full shape of the Tweed Royal necklace (Photo: courtesy of Chanel)
Checking and adjusting the articulations with set elements and resin rubies on the design for the Tweed Royal necklace (Photo: courtesy of Chanel)
Final assembly and positioning of the centre stone on the necklace (Photo: courtesy of Chanel)
Dismantling and polishing of the Tweed Royal necklace (Photo: courtesy of Chanel)
Making, pinning and assembling the lion motif into a brooch or ring (Photo: courtesy of Chanel)
Today, Leguéreau returns to the house’s hallmark for a second time, with a second instalment of the Tweed de Chanel range, a bold creation of 64 new high jewellery pieces. He says, “I wanted to go further in the interpretation by creating a veritable fabric of precious stones that is light and supple.”
The centrepiece of the new collection is a plastron necklace of yellow gold, white gold, diamonds, and an impressive ensemble of 37 rubies. Intricately crafted and trimmed with a gold chain, the Tweed Royal necklace features another of the house’s signature motifs—a diamond-set lion’s head, expressing the power and independence of Chanel herself.
A transformable piece, the lion can be removed to be worn separately as a brooch or pendant, while the 10.17-carat D FL Type IIa pear-cut diamond that sits at the base of the tweed creation can be detached and worn as a ring.