The Inspiration of Patrice Leguéreau
In 1921, Gabrielle Chanel imagined a perfume that would transcend the medium of a fragrance and embody the fearlessness and modernity that she believed in for women. Thus, N°5 was born. In 2021, N°5’s one hundred years of celebrity is marked with the same creative stroke, as CHANEL creates a High Jewellery collection with an unbreakable spirit, masterfully crafting a show-stopping centrepiece: a breathtaking necklace set with a 55.55-carat diamond—the ultimate homage to the legendary scent.
N°5 is a tribute to intuition. Like Mademoiselle's instincts which were revealed when selecting the fragrance’s formula, Patrice Leguéreau, the Director of the Fine Jewellery Creation Studio, followed his creative intuition, noting, “We know the bottle, the stopper and the composition of the fragrance, but to unify perfume and High Jewellery, I had to follow my instinct.” After completing the initial research, it is this same knowing that drove the creation of the N°5 pieces, with Patrice Leguéreau adding, “The collection evolved quite naturally when my intuition took over.”
Of his process, Patrice Leguéreau explains, “I took a lot of time to research. I went to Grasse, France, where the N°5 flowers are grown. I went back and re-read books, I looked at the first N°5 bottle housed in the archives and immersed myself in the N°5 universe.” With over 120 pieces, this is the largest High Jewellery collection to date.