From staple food source to a sign of prosperity, wheat has a connection to the brand Chanel — one that would surprise many. Having been an element that the designer has held dear, it now appears in the label’s high jewelry collection “Les Blés de Chanel” that made its debut at Paris Haute Couture Week. Yes, you might say there’s a little bit of whimsy in wheat and Chanel mines it.

Having been somewhat of a good luck charm for the designer, wheat sees its lifecycle from shoot to grain in the 62-piece collection split (see what we did there?) into four different categories. The dominating color scheme in the collection is green and yellow in various shades. With the help of yellow sapphires, diamonds, peridots and yellow gold, the French luxury firm is able to capture the journey of the grain. Other variations of the designs within the collection include white diamonds, white gold and aquamarines alongside cultured pearls from Japan and Indonesia.

The first fruit of the harvest are represented perfectly in the sets “Premiers Brins”, Brins de Printemps” and “Brins de Diamants”. The tourmalines, peridots and aquamarines show off the first green shoots and ears of wheat, playing off light from diamonds. The sun-ripened wheat ears are displayed in the “Epi d’Eté”, “Epi Vendôme”, “Epi Solaire”, “L’Epi and “Cascade d’Epi”. The final set of the collection, which depicts the harvest, are designs in precious stones ranging from diamonds to yellow sapphires. Called “Fête des Moissons” the set captures the crowns of wheat during the harvest.

Moisson d’Or

The wheat theme extends to a host of styles in the high jewelry collection, including sets “Champ de Blé,” “Impression de Blé,” “Blé Infini” and “Légende de Blé.” These see diamonds set against yellow or white gold. The “Légende de Blé” 18k white gold necklace, for example, is set with a 5-carat marquise-cut diamond, 12 marquise-cut diamonds and 839 brilliant-cut diamonds.