A-listers show how to mix costume jewellery with high jewellery: Catherine, Princess of Wales; Selena Gomez and Meghan Markle all follow Coco Chanel’s advice, exuding more than just an aura of wealth

Oct 23 , 2023

Dua Lipa poses in the media room during The BRIT Awards 2021 at The O2 Arena on May 11, 2021 in London, England. She’s wearing a Vivienne Westwood necklace. Photo: Brit Awards/Getty Images

Insiders like Giovanna Engelbert, creative director of Swarovski, fashion writer Leandra Medine, critic Suzy Menkes and Hollie Harding, womenswear buying manager at luxury retailer Browns are in on the trend

Vivienne Westwood, Mejuri, Missoma, Reiss, Sezane, Accessorize, Spells of Love, Laura Lombardi, Completedworks and Kenneth Jay Lane all offer striking pieces

Coco Chanel, who remains the byword in all things elegant, once said that costume jewellery “isn’t made to provoke desire, just astonishment at most. It must remain an ornament and an amusement”.

Yet Chanel famously preferred costume jewellery – ropes of “fake” pearls, button earrings, sculptural cuffs and more – to the “real” stuff. Costume jewellery, she also once said, wasn’t intended to give women an “aura of wealth” but to “make them beautiful”. And as in most things, Chanel was thoroughly modern and correct.

Swarovski creative director Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert loves to mix high and low jewellery pieces. Photo: Handout

Her pick-‘n’-mix approach to accessories – pairing diamonds with semi-precious stones, or fun little pieces with serious gems – is how some of the world’s most stylish women use their jewellery today. Think Giovanna Engelbert, creative director of Swarovski, who piles on her own vibrant designs with striking gold pieces from Bulgari and Cartier; or fashion writer Leandra Medine, who stacks precious pieces with quirkier, inexpensive trinkets. Then there’s a slew of celebrities who love costume jewellery, such as Selena Gomez with her Mejuri hoops or Meghan Markle, with her favourite Missoma signet ring.

As it happens, the list of high-profile women who love costume jewellery even includes Kate Middleton, future Queen of England, a woman – it must be said – with access to some of the world’s best baubles.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, has often shown her flair for dressing in more affordable fashion and that extends to her jewellery choices. Photo: Indigo/Getty Images

Princess Catherine’s much-praised penchant for more affordable fashion – which includes everything from Reiss (the royal famously even wore the high street brand for her official engagement photo in 2010) to Blundstone boots – also extends to her jewellery choices. In recent years the princess has worn earrings from French brand Sezane, hoops from accessible Accessorize, and often wears necklaces from Welsh brand Spells of Love.

It’s an approach that not everybody agrees with: respected fashion critic Suzy Menkes, who was awarded an OBE by the late Queen Elizabeth for her services to fashion journalism in 2014, sparked a gold-plated controversy when she said on a recent episode of her Creative Conversations podcast that the princess’ jewellery choices were “disappointing”.

Talking to long-time Vogue jewellery editor Carol Woolton, Menkes said, “The Princess of Wales is a bit of a disappointment about jewellery. She gives the impression that she only puts it on when she absolutely has to.