Céline Dion appeared on stage last night (October 14th) at the Plenitude Arena in Paris wearing 67 carats of Chanel diamonds. Dion was wearing a Chanel Comète necklace in platinum and 18K white gold set with a total of 1,080 diamonds. The Comète necklace was recreated as a nod to the original necklace that Céline Dion wore at the 1997 Oscars red carpet and inspired by a 1932 design from Gabrielle Chanel’s one and only High Jewellery collection, “Bijoux de Diamants”.
The design replicates a comet with its fiery tail curving around the neck like an inverted question mark without hooks or clasps, and is one of Chanel’s most recognisable high jewellery creations.
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Dion also wore a couture gown designed by Karl Lagerfeld to the Oscars in 1997, which Matthieu Blazy reimagined for her performance last night. The stunning gown features elements from Blazy’s Autumn/Winter 2026 couture collection, including an embroidered muslin layer over a corseted bodice and a raffia-trimmed neckline. The subsequent creation featured 6000 jewels and 5000 beads and took 1,380 man hours to make.
In 1997 Dion wore a Comète necklace to perform at the Oscars at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. She sang Because you Loved me from the film Up Close & Personal and I Finally Found Someone from the film The Mirror has Two Faces. Natalie Cole was originally meant to sing I Finally Found Someone instead of Barbara Streisand but fell ill, leaving Dion to replace her at short notice. Chanel had revived the designs in 1995 from the 1932 collection.
In 1932 Gabrielle Chanel presented her first and only high jewellery collection – Bijoux de Diamants. The Diamond Corporation Limited, London, funded the collection in an effort to revive the diamond jewellery market suffering in the wake of the 1929 Wall Street Crash and subsequent depression. In a provocative mood, turning her back on costume jewellery that she herself had helped popularise she invoked the help of decorative artist Paul Iribe. The collection featured celestial designs including stars, moons and comets with the Comète brooch one of its standout designs. Despite disappearing for years into private hands Chanel managed to reacquire a Comète brooch from the collection in 2000. Celestial designs have continued to play an important role in Chanel’s high jewellery collections.
Dion’s five week residency in Paris which ends on the 17th October is remarkable given her previous health concerns. Her last world tour was in 2019 and interrupted by the covid pandemic. She was forced to cancel her last world tour after she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in 2022. Since then she has managed a remarkable recovery, she made a memorable appearance at the Paris Olympics in August 2024 singing Edith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour from the Eiffel Tower.
For the last five weeks Dion has taken the opportunity to wear jewellery from the most prestigious maison’s but last night, wearing a replica of the Chanel Comète necklace she wore to the Oscars surely means she’s back to her best.
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