Gabrielle Chanel was born on August 19th, the end of the summer and the celebration of the harvest festival. For Gabrielle Chanel’s father, wheat symbolised all that was good and wholesome. He often called it “my good wheat,” and that expression resounded with her all her life. A symbol of renewed prosperity and abundance, wheat became one of her lucky symbols.
Launched at Fall 2016 Paris Haute Couture week, the High Jewellery collection Les Blés de CHANEL celebrates for the first time this fundamental element of Gabrielle Chanel’s world, and follows the life cycle of wheat with 62 high jewellery pieces.
In conjunction with the launch, Chanel sponsored the “Blés Vendome,” the third act of an artistic vegetal installation, Nature Capitale (the flowering of cities), that began in 2010. A golden, frozen moment in time, the installation made of one million wheat, wood and 120 m3 of sand was set on the Place Vendôme from the 1st to the 7th of July 2016. It will then be exhibited in Saumur, Gabrielle Chanel’s birth city.
“Through the ages, in all art forms, wheat has inspired artists, creators and thinkers. With Blés Vendôme, I want to tell everyone how important our relationship is with nature, in our cities and in our countryside. How man’s spirit when acting with respect and care, knows how to interact with nature to nourish and beautify mankind,” said Gad Weil, the artist behind the installation.