New Chanel boutique on Fifth Avenue
On February 9th, 2024, Chanel its new boutique on the legendary Fifth Avenue in New York. How fitting that Gabrielle Chanel’s, aka Coco Chanel, favourite N°5 opened there. This boutique is reminiscent of the famous French fashion Maison’s address at 18 place Vendôme in Paris, a place dedicated to jewellery and watchmaking.
Undoubtedly inspired by Coco Chanel
In the heart of the historic Crown Building – founded in 1921 and inspired by French Beaux-Arts architecture – stands Chanel’s new boutique. The façade is chiselled in dusky black granite that elegantly contrasts with the screens cast in bronze, which shimmer behind a steel and glass structure. This new flagship is an homage to the legendary Chanel boutique at 31 rue Cambron in Paris. Black and gold reign supreme, and dashes of rock crystal – a material dear to Miss Chanel’s heart – are cleverly sprinkled all around this new flagship. Collection of contemporary art, antiques, custom-made furniture, and light fixtures adorn the boutique.
Black and gold lacquer panes set the stage for what’s to come. You are greeted by bouquets of lotus flowers carved in aged wood from Japan’s Edo period, as you enter the boutique. Then, the golden walls that enclose the exhibition floor draws your gaze up towards the ‘Attrape-rêve’ (or dreamcatcher) chandeliers, which were crafted in rock crystal by the Parisian goldsmith Goossens.
As you continue the tour, you will enter two different showrooms, both dedicated to high jewellery, that will stun you with their double height ceilings decorated with Coromandel style lacquer screen walls – a clever nod to the fabulous Coromandel folding screens in Gabrielle Chanel’s apartment.
The customer experience is truly unique. As you enter the parlour where the watches are presented, the magnificent staircase brings the whole room together. It follows the walls up to the mezzanine and is decorated with rock crystal banisters bordered with 24 carat gold created by Goossens. The cherry on top is the mezzanine, a space designed for private appointments and high jewellery.
A work of art among works of art
True to the spirit of Coco Chanel – a patron of the arts and avid collector – this boutique is rich with all sorts of artworks. A sculpture in patina copper and steel with amber-coloured crystal by André Dubreuil shares a common space with a custom polyptych wall collage featuring 13 panels of gold leaf on linen by Iranian American painter Y.Z. Kami. Shift your gaze and you will find a black wooden wall installation created by Louis Nevelson rubbing shoulders with a portrait by Brazilian artist and photographer Vik Muniz, of Gabriel Chanel’s face entirely covered in jewels titled ‘Chanel, Pictures of Diamonds’.
Works by Brazilian artist and photographer Vik Muniz, titled ‘Chanel, Pictures of Diamonds’, portraying Gabriel Chanel’s face entirely covered in jewels.
Tempera on wood and metal panes by the Norwegian expressionist painter Anna-Eva Bergman.
© Chanel.
A jewelbox for Chanel’s current collections
It goes without saying that you can find such famous jewellery collections as ‘Coco Crush’, ‘Camélia’, ‘Ruban’, and ‘Comète’. Iconic watches like the ‘J 12’ or ‘Première’ models (among other watchmaking paragons) also fill the boutique.
To celebrate the opening of the boutique, some very exclusive high jewellery pieces made their appearance. This is the case for the famous 55.55 necklace, who left its Parisian residence, place Vendôme, to show off its 55.55-carat diamond. This mammoth jewel sits in the centre of N°5 perfume bottle, also made entirely of diamonds. This work of art is at the heart of Chanel’s heritage, a genuine masterpiece to behold whenever the time is right like a comet that only comes once every hundred years.
CHANEL Watches & Fine Jewelry Fifth
Avenue Flagship 730 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10019
(212) 535-5828
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