The earrings that marked a new start post separation
WEARING a sleek midnight blue Catherine Walker gown, her hair slicked back in a ‘duckbill’ do, Diana presented her friend, Harper’s Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis, with a fashion award in January 1995.
She made the whistlestop 24-hour trip to New York’s Lincoln Center but didn’t stint on style, finishing her stunningly grown-up look with striking sapphire and diamond drop earrings.
Their provenance is unknown, but they’re thought to have been a gift from a Spencer family member after her separation from Charles.
Both sapphires are surrounded by diamond ‘petals’, with a single diamond on the chain, made from pink ‘angel skin’ coral, in between.
Both stones are ‘cabochons’, meaning they have been polished but not faceted, giving a softer, less reflective finish.
Diana liked to wear them with black, which truly emphasised the beauty of the blue stones — as she did in the summer of 1995 when she persuaded opera singer Luciano Pavarotti to sing at a fundraising concert in Cardiff for a hospice charity.
The Princess also chose to wear them for a Vogue cover shoot to mark her 33rd birthday.
Relaxed and confident, Diana positively beamed out of the 1994 cover in a powerful portrait taken by Patrick Demarchelier, her favourite photographer.