The villa La Pausa on the prestigious French Riviera, more precisely Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, is chosen to showcase the mesmerizing high jewellery collection by Chanel named “Flying Cloud”.

The plot for the collection, as before, was found in an inexhaustible biography of Gabrielle Chanel. The villa was constructed by Robert Streitz on motifs of the Cistercian convent in Obazin where she grew up in a shelter. Named La Pausa because of the chapel, located not far from her summer residence, where she spent time with her beloved Bendor, Duke of Westminster. And their story lies on the basis of the collection Flying Cloud, the name of the Duke’s yacht , where Mademoiselle Chanel and her numerous guests enjoyed summertime.

Sea, sailboats, sailors, sea cruises and summer joys of azur shore are all about Flying Cloud. Marine knots, lifebuoys, ropes, anchors, sea form with metal buttons, sailor’s tattoos became main images and decorative motifs. The sublime collection includes 63 items. As always, in the strictly seasoned Chanel jewelry the main color is white: diamonds, white pearls and white gold slightly accentuated with sea blue: sapphires and lapis lazuli. Lapis lazuli is delicately used to ornate fragments of lifebuoys from “Precious Float“ set. The second color providing perfect whiteness is yellow, the color of the sun in “Golden Braid” and “Sunny Rope” sets made of yellow gold with yellow diamonds.

This is the color of the golden buttons shining in the sun on the naval uniform in the lightest, elegant and witty sets of “Sailor Suit”, where there is a pair of mismatched earrings-cuff with three buttons  and a stud-button -an undoubted future hit with great potential for subsequent variations.

 

And the same gold sailor buttons and epaulettes are on the sea tunic in the “Summer Cruise” set, dedicated to the clothing collection from jersey that Chanel was just making up at the time. And certainly “Sailor Tattoo” set dedicated to sailors’ tattoos did not leave anyone indifferent. Five superbly invented and masterly executed rings made of white and yellow gold, diamonds, blue, pink, yellow and orange sapphires, red spinel, and a wide openwork bracelet with the most classic sea motif-anchor.
This collection is unmistakable with its lightness, wit, intellectual complexity, which mark the identity of Gabrielle Chanel herself.