| Glittering Screen
From the world’s finest diamond necklace to Marilyn Monroe’s sparkly best friends, we highlight the most spectacular pieces captured on film
From the world’s finest diamond necklace in Ocean’s 8 to Marilyn Monroe’s sparkly best friends in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, jewellery often deserves co-star status when the credits roll.
Pearls, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and other priceless stones will shine eternally on the silver screen, as Elisabeth Attwood demonstrates here in highlighting some of the most spectacular pieces captured on film
OCEAN’S 8
The most lavish jewellery to be spotted on the big screen recently is in this diamondheist movie. Anne Hathaway’s porcelain neck is set off to perfection with a Cartier piece inspired by a necklace once described as the world’s finest cascade of coloured diamonds. The necklace is based on an original design by Jacques Cartier for the Maharaja of Nawanagar in 1931 and was known as the Jeanne Toussaint necklace, named after the creative director who was such an important female figure in the house at that time.
Sadly, the original necklace no longer survives but in just eight weeks using photographs and drawings, Cartier’s Parisian jewellers reproduced the piece for Ocean’s 8. So it could be worn by a woman, it was reduced in size and the coloured diamonds were replaced with natural zirconium oxides mounted on white gold. Cartier’s 52nd Street mansion was turned into a film set for the shoot, and other members of the cast were fortunate enough to be lent Cartier jewellery for the movie. A spokesperson for the brand described its involvement as “a challenge” and “a thrilling venture” that highlighted the common ground between the maison and the strong female characters of the film, declaring, “The project stems from Cartier’s history of empowering women.”
CRAZY RICH ASIANS
Michelle Ong, designer of Hong Kong jewellery brand Carnet, chose the pieces from her collection to appear in the film that had everyone talking this summer, Crazy Rich Asians. Her brand was mentioned in the Kevin Kwan novel on which the movie is based, and Ong was “delighted” to be asked to be involved in the film. After being briefed on the characters played by Michelle Yeoh and Lisa Lu, she chose two pieces for the big wedding scene. Sunkissed is a stunning brooch featuring a white diamond and a fancy intense yellow diamond mounted on platinum and yellow gold. A pendant/brooch called Sparkling Delight was also chosen. It is set in the centre with a spectacular 16.5-carat, emerald-cut unheated natural fancy yellow sapphire embellished with white and fancy yellow diamonds. The mounting is in platinum, white gold and titanium, and it has a detachable chain of white and yellow diamonds.
DIANA
Chopard was the official jeweller for the 2013 movie Diana, in which actress Naomi Watts wore the late Diana’s iconic pieces, including her famous oval sapphire and diamond engagement ring. One of the most spectacular pieces is the fine plastron in white gold with three rows of pear- and cushion-cut diamonds.
TITANIC
Kate Winslet as Rose famously wore nothing but a necklace to seduce Leonardo Dicaprio’s character, Jack, in Titanic (1997), eventually throwing the priceless piece into the sea. Asprey was commissioned by 20th Century Fox to create two necklaces for the movie.
The Heart of the Ocean necklace was made with gold settings and coloured glass instead of diamonds. Following the success of the film, Asprey decided to recreate the necklace with precious stones. In the film, the central stone was meant to be a blue diamond, but it was nearly impossible to find a diamond that size. Instead, Asprey found an oval blue sapphire of 178 carats and recut the stone into a heart shape, placing it in the centre of the diamond necklace.
The stunning creation was auctioned off to an unidentified Asprey client by Sotheby’s in Beverly Hills for US$1.4 million, with the proceeds donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Southern California’s Aid For Aids. A special agreement specified that Celine Dion could wear it two nights later at the Academy Awards ceremony. She wore it—and won the Oscar for Best Original Song for My Heart Will Go On. Since then, the necklace has never been made available for another public viewing. Titanic’s story of the Heart of the Ocean necklace is based on the Hope Diamond, the 45.52-carat blue diamond once owned by Louis XVI and donated by Harry Winston to the Smithsonian Institute in 1958. For the film’s premiere, Harry Winston created its own version of the necklace using a 15-carat blue diamond, and it was worn by Gloria Stuart (who plays the older Rose).
HITCHCOCK
The south of France is synonymous with gemstones glittering in the sun, with women from around the world showing off their heirlooms while on holiday. Alfred Hitchcock made To Catch a Thief in 1955, featuring a cat burglar (Cary Grant) who tries to takes advantage of a young American girl (Grace Kelly). Kelly’s character gets her own back when she steals the thief ’s heart, seducing him as she wears a delicate-as-lace diamond bibstyle necklace (“Even in this light I can tell where you’re looking,” she says at one stage). Later in the film a sumptuous costume ball has wealthy guests trying to outdo each other with their priceless pieces. In another scene, costume designer Edith Head deliberately left Kelly jewel-less to let the simplicity of her lavender gown do the talking.
Alfred Hitchcock became the first director to work with Harry Winston when, in 1946, the jeweller lent Ingrid Bergman a spectacular cluster diamond necklace for the film Notorious. It began Harry Winston’s tradition as a jeweller to the stars—both on and off screen.
THE GREAT GATSBY
More recently, art deco pieces from Tiffany & Co’s archives featured in The Great Gatsby (2013). Leonardo Dicaprio as Jay Gatsby wore cufflinks in 18K gold and Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan dazzled in pieces such as the Savoy, a headband set with diamonds and pearls. The film’s costume and production designer, Catherine Martin, worked with Tiffany & Co to create a collection of jewellery inspired by the film.
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S
There’s an irony about this movie’s most famous necklace; it didn’t make it into the film. In the publicity shots for Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Audrey Hepburn wears a fourlayered pearl necklace clasped in front with the largest yellow diamond known to exist at the time, the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond. But it never appears in the movie. Nicknamed the Ribbon Rosette, it was set by Tiffany & Co’s Jean Schlumberger but was swapped in the famous opening shot for a similar, less valuable piece by French jeweller Roger Scemama. Nevertheless, Hepburn sparkles throughout the film with flamboyant pieces, such as a pink rhinestone tiara and a blackand-white beaded bib.
JAMES BOND FILMS
The James Bond movies feature the world’s most beautiful women wearing the world’s most beautiful jewellery. Necks are encrusted with diamonds, ears are adorned with rubies and wrists sparkle with sapphires. One of the