SINGAPORE – It was past opening hours on a Friday evening, but National Gallery Singapore stirred to life as the city’s beau monde assembled in its hallowed hallways for a special dinner organised by French luxury label Chanel in late March 2023.

A hush descended upon the crowd as striking models sauntered past in between courses, clad in millions of dollars worth of glittering diamonds that resembled the crescent moon, the sun and shooting stars.

These baubles are part of the famed French maison’s 1932 High Jewelry collection, which is said to draw inspiration from the sky, visible through the latticed glass-and-metal ceiling of the Supreme Court Terrace, the evening’s dinner venue.

They were launched in May 2022 at a party in West Hollywood to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Bijoux de Diamants, the first and only high jewellery collection created by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel herself.

The grand fete was a way for Chanel to celebrate the arrival of the collection, which has made its way to Singapore and is put on display at the Marina Bay Sands for the very first time, until April 10. And yes, the pieces are available for purchase.

A storied past

The year 1932 was not an easy one – the world was in the midst of a recession, driven by soaring inflation and unemployment rates caused by the Wall Street crash of 1929.

With business in the doldrums, the London Diamond Corporation took a gamble by commissioning a collection with Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, hoping that her creative talent would bolster demand for the gem.

Chanel turned heavenwards for inspiration, drawn perhaps to the interstellar symbols that peppered her life, from the map of the heavens engraved on the coat of arms of her childhood home – the Aubazine abbey – to the night sky in Paris.

In a press statement for the collection, she was quoted as saying: “I seek out motifs that best showcase the brilliance of diamonds – the star, the cross, the fall of graduated stones and large sunburst cabochons.”

The resulting jewellery – a brilliant array of necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings that captured the vast beauty of the cosmos in white and yellow diamonds – were presented in her townhouse at 29 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris.

At the two-week exhibition, which attracted the likes of legendary French film-maker Jean Cocteau and Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, shooting stars and blazing suns made of diamonds adorned the heads and collarbones of wax mannequins instead of sitting behind glass cases, a customary practice at the time.

The Bijoux de Diamants were also transformable – pieces could be detached and worn in multiple ways on different parts of the body – and had no clasps, because Chanel believed in versatility and freedom.

“My jewellery never stands in isolation from the idea of a woman and her dresses. It is because dresses change that my jewellery is transformable,” she said.

But not everyone was impressed with Chanel’s take on diamonds. When the jewellery houses of Paris discovered that a dressmaker had been appointed to design a high jewellery collection aimed at revitalising the diamond market, they were incensed and demanded the immediate termination of the project.

Any plans to introduce Chanel’s high jewellery to London were called off. As a result, the majority of the collection was dismantled and lost forever.

But the Parisian jewellers who opposed the project were unaware that Chanel’s vision and the collection’s heritage would endure, as the Bijoux de Diamants would one day be recreated based on historical accounts and photographs.

Now part of Chanel’s patrimonial collection, these ornaments would be brought out of the vaults for special exhibitions like the one last month.

A sparkling present

The Bijoux de Diamants collection has come full circle with the creation of the 1932 High Jewelry collection by Chanel’s Fine Jewelry Creation Studio. These pieces draw upon the themes of its predecessor and celebrate light, transformation and freedom.

Director Patrice Leguereau says: “I wanted to return to the essence of 1932 and harmonise the message around three symbols: the comet, the moon and the sun. Each heavenly body shines with its own light.”

But that is not all: Some pieces are one-off designs and will never be reproduced again.

Thirteen out of the 77 pieces are also transformable and can be worn on different parts of the body. For instance, parts of the Allure Celeste necklace, which features an oval sapphire surrounded by round-cut diamonds, can be detached and turned into a brooch or a bracelet.

But at the gala dinner, it was the collection’s most expensive set, the Comete Constellation necklace and ring, that stole the show.

A throwback to Chanel’s original clasp-less design, the set features two diamonds weighing 10.08 carats each. These can be detached from the necklace to be placed on the ring and vice versa.

Its asking price? $11.5 million.

As Chanel once said: “The best things in life are free. The second-best things are very, very expensive.”

• Chanel’s 1932 High Jewelry collection will be available for public viewing until April 10 at the Chanel boutique, located at L1-59 and B1-133, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 2 Bayfront Avenue.

Celestial wonders

Here are some highlights from Chanel’s 1932 High Jewelry collection.