Golden Stitches with Chanel

For nearly a century, Maison Lesage has been the go-to embroidery house in Paris for Haute Couture creations. Its elaborate hand-striched embellishments, the work of countless hours of craftsmanship, have been used to great effect by the like of Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent and of course Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, which now owns the embroiderer. In 2013, Chanel commissioned for the first time Maison Lesage to create a watch dial hand-stitching a pink and white camellia, Coco Chanel's favorite flower, using the needlepoint-painting technique.

Now, the expertise of the petite-mains of Maison Lesage have been called upon again to embroider with gold silk thread two new patterns on a tiny piece of ink-black fabric, one using a rose-cut diamond and gold paillons (featured on this page) and another using fine pearls and gold paillons.

A real tour de force, the Mademoiselle Privé Watch with Embroidered Camellia demands minute seed-stitches to allow for the hand of the timepiece to turn just above them.

To create this beautiful precision, the outline of the camellia is first reproduced on tracing paper, which will then be perforated (so called “piquetage”) to mimic the holes of each stitches.

The design is then transferred on to the fabric with talc falling through the perforations

To further highlight this masterwork, Chanel has removed set the dial in a case paved with 60 brilliant-cut diamonds and removed the crown to make the timepiece perfectly round.

As first published in Blouin Lifestyle Magazine.