How high jewellery became a permanent fixture in Hollywood: Beyoncé and Lady Gaga have worn Audrey Hepburn’s iconic Tiffany & Co. necklace, while Anne Hathaway’s Bulgari gem shone bright at Cannes

Nov 29 , 2022

The diamond and onyx Action! necklace depicts a reel of film. Photo: Bulgari

Jewellery 2022

Luxury brands like Chaumet have kept a strong relationship with the silver screen, counting icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly as fans

Gal Gadot donned a Breakfast at Tiffany’s necklace replica for 2022’s Death on the Nile, while Chopard has a necklace inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief

Hollywood is awash with glitz and glamour, only heightened by the ornate high jewellery with its dazzling diamonds and other precious gemstones.

Perhaps the most famous association between the silver screen and the world of high jewellery was established in 1961 with the release of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Audrey Hepburn wore the now-iconic Tiffany Diamond in the film’s promotional images, the 128.54-carat yellow diamond set into a necklace.

Hepburn is one of just four women to have worn the necklace, with Golden Globe-nominee Beyoncé and Academy Award winner Lady Gaga both wearing it on a necklace in recent years. Earlier this year, actress Gal Gadot donned a replica in Death on the Nile, an Agatha Christie tale in which the theft of the necklace is a pivotal part of the film’s plot.

Gal Gadot wore a replica of the famed Tiffany Diamond in the 2022 film Death on the Nile. Photo: Tiffany & Co.

But the relationship between the worlds of high jewellery and cinema have long been intertwined. The house of Chaumet aligned itself with royalty as the official jeweller to Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress Josephine in the early 1800s. A century later, it turned its attention to Hollywood royalty and in the 1920s, vaudeville stars The Dolly Sisters became loyal fans of Chaumet and were often seen draped in the house’s pearl necklaces, diamond earrings and ornate brooches. The association between Chaumet and cinema continues a century on from that, with the house sponsoring the 2016 Cesar Awards.

Vaudeville stars, The Dolly Sisters, draped in Chaumet jewellery in 1927. Photo: Chaumet/Getty Images

Lucia Silvestri, creative director of Bulgari, draws parallels between rare gems in the film industry and those in high jewellery. “The jewellery and movie worlds share the same vocation: to make people dream,” she said. “Names such as Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and many others discovered the Bulgari shop in Via Condotti and engaged in passionate affairs with Bulgari jewels on and off the screen.”

The maison’s Cinemagia high jewellery collection celebrates the golden era of cinema. More than 150 pieces draw inspiration from Italian black-and-white films, and 1950s Hollywood starlets and their glamorous escapes to the French Riviera.

The relationship between the worlds of high jewellery and cinema have long been intertwined

The Cinemagia collection features several pieces that celebrate emeralds, an important gemstone for the maison. The Forever Emeralds, one such example, features a 24.31-carat cabochon emerald centre stone. The geometric design on this emerald and diamond necklace evokes the glamour of Elizabeth Taylor’s famed emerald necklace, gifted by then-husband Richard Burton. The necklace is completed with 36 carats of cushion-cut emeralds, and purportedly took more than 500 hours to complete.

More literal interpretations of the connection with cinema include Bulgari’s Action! necklace, depicting a film reel and celebrating the innovative advent of celluloid in film. Zirconium – an unconventional material for high jewellery – is used to replicate the sheen of celluloid while 32 carats of pavé diamonds complete the piece.