Mademoiselle Privé: a new Chanel exhibition opens at London's Saatchi Gallery

The free display features the very first jewellery collection designed by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel
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Karen Dacre13 October 2015

A free exhibition featuring the first and only jewellery collection designed by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel was unveiled at the capital's Saatchi Gallery today.

Set to spark major interest from fans of the prestigious French house, the diamond encrusted jewellery pieces, originally designed in 1932 and individually worth in excess of £1 million, are among the star attractions in a project devised to open up the world of Haute Couture to Londoners.

Spanning two floors of the Chelsea gallery, Mademoiselle Privé features iconic couture pieces from some of Chanel's most famous collections and offers a guided tour of the brand's journey from little known Parisian atelier to global fashion super force.

Must see rooms include a replica of Coco Chanel's Rue Cambon apartment and a space within which visitors are invited to breath in the key fragrance notes which combine in Chanel's iconic No. 5 fragrance.

Iconic: Chanel's No. 5 fragrance
Glenn Copus

An English country garden - designed by Chelsea Garden Show gold medallists the Rich Brothers - offers visitors a chance to walk among some of Chanel's key inspirations while a room of hedgerows - a homage to her beloved Versailles - completes this immersive journey into one of fashion's most iconic figures. An app, which serves as a guide, can also be downloaded by visitors.

Keen to emphasis it's contemporary significance, Karl Lagerfeld is also among those celebrated within this project. Notably through a series of portraits, which were shot by Lagerfeld at Mademoiselle Coco’s apartment in Paris.

The images, which celebrate Chanel's appeal among its high paying celebrity clients and showcase the reissued ‘Bijoux de Diamants” jewellery collection, feature some of the veteran designer's favourite muses including Keira Knightley, Julianne Moore, Vanessa Paradis and her daughter Lily Rose Depp.

The Comet necklace, which was modelled by Moore in July at Lagerfeld’s most recent haute couture showcase, is displayed alongside a rich velvet dress from the same collection.

Lagerfeld will also host a party to launch the exhibition in London tonight.

While some critics may describe Mademoiselle Privé to be a canny marketing project devised to showcase the house's new jewellery collection on a major platform, it is just one of a whole host of fashion exhibitions taking place in the capital this Autumn.

Hot on the heels of Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen retrospective that was among the best attended in the V&A's history, Chanel joins Louis Vuitton and department store Liberty in its decision to stage a major exhibition to entice fashion customers and culture vultures alike to its brand.

Mademoiselle Privé opens to the public tomorrow until 1st November; saatchigallery.com

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