From archival pieces to major carats, the big night’s red carpet was full of the classic stone
The holy grail of red-carpet fashion, the Academy Awards is the moment when stars bring their sartorial best. More and more, that means collaborating with a major luxury fashion house on a gown or tuxedo, an endeavour that can take weeks or months and an army of seamstresses, tailors and artisans. That effort also translates to the world of jewellery, where pieces can be customised to their A-list wearers, or selected from jewellery Maisons’ annual high jewellery collections and archival curations—both of which offer handmade works that often take exponentially longer than their accompanying couture gowns to create. From stone sourcing and matching (an endeavour that can take years, even decades), to intricate goldsmithing and hand finishing, Oscars jewellery is always a labor of love.
The jewellery theme of this year’s Academy Awards was undoubtedly diamonds—even Doja Cat sang “Diamonds Are Forever,” the classic made famous by Shirley Bassey, in tribute to the James Bond franchise. On the red carpet, there were many classic diamond colliers and bibs, from Mikey Madison’s Tiffany & Co. Edwardian era piece to Scarlett Johansson’s De Beers drop necklace with almost 75 carats of diamonds. Others chose traditional diamond necklaces but wore them with a literal twist: Margaret Qualley’s Chanel High Jewellery diamond lariat-style necklace was turned to the back, as was Michelle Yeoh’s diamond tie-necklace from Boucheron. Of course, there were plenty of elaborate brooches, extending last year’s men’s lapel pin trend in new, creative ways.
Here, a closer look at the best jewellery from the big night.
Zoe Saldaña in Cartier
The new Best Supporting actress wore a custom Saint Laurent tiered gown, along with a Cartier diamond necklace from the Maison’s new Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection. The actress hand selected the “Panthere Versatiles” necklace with a 10.10-carat Zambian emerald, which can transform into a piece of shoulder jewellery and took nearly three years to complete.
Gal Gadot in Tiffany & Co.
The actress paired a Prada gown with an Angela Cummings for Tiffany & Co. Archives gold and diamond necklace along with Tiffany Victoria rings and a Jean Schlumberger by Tiffany & Co. ring.
Mikey Madison in Tiffany & Co.
The Nora actress wore a pink-and-black Christian Dior gown with Tiffany & Co.’s archival necklace circa 1909-1919 that showcased the Edwardian era’s intricate metal work in platinum-iridium. Madison paired the necklace with platinum-and-diamonds earrings, ring and bracelet, plus a pink tourmaline cocktail ring.
Ariana Grande in De Beers
The Wicked actress chose simple diamond pieces by De Beers to let her Schiaparelli gown shine on the red carpet.
Cynthia Erivo
The Wicked actress and vocalist has an impressive personal collection of jewellery, which she often wears on the red carpet with her signature custom nails. Erivo did the same on Oscars night, wearing an assortment of diamond rings and hoops with a custom Louis Vuitton forest green velvet gown.
Margaret Qualley in Chanel
The actress and Chanel ambassador wore a long black velvet gown from the brand, inspired from its spring-summer 2005 runway collection, along with Chanel High Jewellery diamond pieces, including the “Motif Russe” necklace, she Qualley wore turned around on her back—perhaps a slight reference to The Substance.
Elle Fanning in Cartier
A custom Givenchy gown with a vintage nod received an equally time-travelling piece of jewellery in a 1958 platinum and white gold necklace, done with graduated garlands of brilliant-cut diamonds, draped over a twisted row of square- and circular-cut diamonds.
Demi Moore in Chopard
Kieran Culkin in Kwiat Fred Leighton
The Best Supporting Actor winner’s Kwiat Fred Leighton coloured gemstone lapel pin and black-on-black Zegna tuxedo were a welcome palette cleanser to more over-the-top lapel brooches as of late.
Lupita Nyong’o in Chanel
The actress wore all Chanel, from a custom pleated ivory charmeuse dress with a resille bustier embroidered with silver crystal bugle beads and embellished with pearls and silver crystal braids, pearls straps, pearls cabochons, pearls tassels, and an ivory satin belt, inspired by look 74 from the maison’s spring-summer 1991 couture show, along with a variety of diamond-and-pearl pieces from the brand, some worn in Nyong’o’s hair.
Colman Domingo in Boucheron
The Sing Sing actor wore a look from Alessandro Michele’s new collection for Valentino, along with a TK watch and a variety of Boucheron pieces, a Ribbon clip from 1956, a bracelet made of two gold rope chains and pompom tassel from 1946, the Serpent Bohème stud earrings and the Fuzzy the Leopard Cat ring, paved with diamonds, set with emeralds and a tourmaline, in pink gold, with black lacquer.
Michelle Yeoh in Boucheron
Along with its Plume de Paon pieces, Yeoh wore a Boucheron’s Quatre Radiant Edition High Jewellery tie-necklace, from back to front.
Felicity Jones in Boucheron
Selena Gomez in Bulgari
The actress’s custom Ralph Lauren gown was paired with a Bulgari diamond necklace and earrings.
Timothée Chalamet in Cartier
Along with a custom Givenchy suit, Chalamet wore a Cartier Tradition gold, sapphire and white and fancy yellow diamond necklace from 1988, a Cartier Collection mini Baignoire watch from 1994, a Cartier Collection gold and diamond ring from 2005, 18k yellow gold, diamonds and a Panthère de Cartier gold and diamond ring.
