The 2026 Signes & Symbols High Jewellery Collection from Chanel reinterprets the brand’s founder through the jewelry language she understood best. Gabrielle Chanel never sketched designs—she cut fabric directly with shears, often while holding a cigarette. Her approach to jewelry followed the same instinctive, unconventional path.
Symbols as a second skin
For Chanel, jewelry was more than decoration. She described it as “an idea,” a means to avoid explanation and expectation. The new collection condenses her most enduring motifs—the star, comet, camellia, and lion—into pieces that feel both timeless and modern. Unusual diamond cuts, bold carvings, and hard stones give the jewelry a sculptural presence.
The Symbole Camélia rose brooch transforms her signature flower into white and rose gold, set with diamonds, rock crystal, and enamel. A 1.58-carat round brilliant diamond, E color and VVS2 clarity, sits at its center. The brooch converts into a pendant, reflecting Chanel’s preference for effortless adaptability.
Another standout, the Symbole Étoile necklace, balances warmth and contrast. Tanzanite beads, Imperial topaz, spessartite garnets, and carnelian cluster around a 26.21-carat cushion-cut Imperial topaz. Two round spessartite garnets (2.31 and 2.24 carats) flank the center stone. The necklace can be shortened or detached into bracelets, echoing Chanel’s belief that jewelry should serve the wearer.
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Lions, talismans, and the weight of color
Chanel’s astrological sign, Leo, appears in two lion-themed pieces. The Lion Puissant necklace showcases icy elegance with white gold and diamonds forming the lion’s head. A 10.25-carat cushion-cut diamond, D color and flawless, anchors the design, surrounded by eight emerald-cut diamonds totaling 8.21 carats.
The Lion Magistral offers a warmer alternative. Rose and yellow gold frame resting lions, with a 6.21-carat cushion-cut emerald as the focal point. Like other pieces in the collection, it transforms—detachable elements become bracelets, reinforcing the modular design.
The Talisman series adopts a stark black-and-white palette. The Talisman Graphique necklace combines white gold, diamonds, and onyx, centering on a 3.05-carat oval diamond. The effect is bold and architectural, blurring the line between jewelry and art.
The Imprimé series treats colour and pattern like a printed motif or a fabric. The spectacular pieces in this line continue the collection’s spirit of exuberance and joie de vivre.
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The collection’s appeal lies in its balance of grandeur and playfulness. Even at its most luxurious, the jewelry retains a sense of mischief. This contrast between reverence and rebellion mirrors Chanel’s own defiance in fashion a century ago. The pieces don’t just reference her symbols—they carry the same spirit.
Chanel once dismissed her designs as mere ideas, but ideas endure. The Signes & Symbols High Jewellery Collection proves that point.
The collection will launch in 2026.
