The Chanel Lion

At Chanel, the lion is more than just an emblem. Everything started with Mademoiselle’s birth on August 19th 1883. From that moment on, the fifth sign of the zodiac, Leo the Lion, became hers. Like the number 5, she found a lucky charm in this feline ever since her very first moments on Earth. She would make it the guardian of her personal life and of her creative fountain. It’s said that lions adorned her apartment on the rue Cambon; bronze, marble, or wood, on a table or on the mantle, the King of Beasts had a choice location alongside her cigarettes and her pair of scissors. And the lion also protected her creations: it’s engraved on the buttons of her tweed suits, and on the clasps of her famous handbags. She would call on her protector lion in good times and in bad. In Venice, where she went after the death of Boy Capel, the feline’s strength helped her get back on her feet. The animal is also the emblem of the Italian canal city, a symbol of resurrection. And for Gabrielle Chanel, nothing is left up to coincidence. Audacious, instinctive, impetuous, solar, these are all words that aptly apply.

Since the lion was her inspiration, she strove to resemble it. Her strength of character, her temerity, her independence… it seems that she was indeed largely inspired by her favorite animal.  Indeed, everything in her personality goes back to it. She said it herself: “I’m a Leo and like the lion, I take out my claws to prevent others from hurting me.” They’re so alike… The lion is Gabrielle, and Gabrielle the lion. Decades after Coco, the lion remains anchored in the Chanel myth. And this conquering lion has made leaps and bounds, making it past the decoration in her old apartment to come front and center for the Grand Palais runway shows. Leo the lion shines with a thousand tiny fires through diamonds and other stones that compose it when the brand’s jewelry division gets ahold of it. Each and every one can now wear it as a talisman, secretly hoping that it will protect them, guide them, and inspire them just like it did for the one that herself became a source of inspiration for all.

 

 

The Chanel Lion: Key Dates

January 2018: The Chanel workshops of the Place Vendôme release a new collection “The Spirit of the Lion“.

June 23 to July 12, 2017: The Mademoiselle Privée collection was held in Seoul.

December 2016: Métiers d’Arts show , stars such as Vanessa Paradis and Willow Smith attend the parade wearing respectively “Venetian Lion” earrings and the “Lion Arty” ring.

May 18, 2016: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has flown at the 69^th edition of the Cannes festival a “Venetian Lion” wristband signed Chanel Joaillerie.

December 2015: Métiers d’Art show in Rome where Kristen Stewart, the face of the brand, presents with a ring around a “Lion Nugget” ring. 

From 13 October to 1^st November 2015: Collection “private Mademoiselle” in London in which are presented the most beautiful jewels of the brand.

2015: The Chanel House perpetuates Gabrielle’s relationship with the city of Venice by contributing to the complete restoration of the famous Lion of St. Mark on the Basilica.

January 2015: Chanel Joaillerie presents a mini collection “The Intemporals” in which we obviously find the Lion but also the Camellia, the Ribbon or the Comet.

Cannes Film Festival 2014: Carole Bouquet sports a “Lion Chanel” bracelet.

December 2013: An ephemeral boutique dedicated to watchmaking opens its doors and presents us with a majestic decoration on the theme of the deer, the lion and the locomotive.

July 2013: On the occasion of the release of its new jewelery collection “Under the Sign of the Lion”, the house Chanel uses Astrid Bergès-Frisbey for the advertising campaign.

June 2013: Chanel presents 58 models of lions from its Haute Joaillerie 2013 collection at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice before presenting it in Paris in July.

September 2012: The “Bijoux de Diamonds” collection is created to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Gabrielle Chanel’s first Haute Joaillerie collection in which we discover the Majestic Lion for the first time in Haute Joaillerie at the Maison de la rue Cambon.

2010-2011 Haute Couture show: The lion appears on Catwalk in the form of a gigantic replica of the brand’s favorite fetish statuette. Karl Lagerfeld pays tribute to the fetish animal through boots recalling his legs, embroidery of the animal’s head, manes on dresses or masks.

January 10, 1971: Death of Gabrielle Chanel, she adorned her grave with 5 heads of lions  : her animal and her favorite figure.

1932: Gabrielle Chanel proposes her vision of the Jewelery and creates her first collection of Haute Joaillerie very avant-garde for the time.

1920: Gabrielle Chanel goes to Venice , the city of Leo. We find his emblem, the lion, in St. Mark’s Square.

August 19, 1883: Birth of Gabrielle Chanel, born under the 5^th sign of the Zodiac, Leo.