"Every year, Hollywood’s awards season culminates to its grandest of all awards, the Academy Awards. Also known as the Oscars, for short, the annual awards ceremony celebrates the best in cinema the previous year and the stars attending dress accordingly in their very [borrowed] best.
The Red Carpet arrivals are almost as exciting, and for some much more so, as the show itself, seeing all the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown at its finest. With the fairy-tale ball gowns come countless spectacular jewels and we’re looking back at some of the most memorable Oscar jewelry of years past."
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Norma Shearer posing with her Oscar for Best Actress for her role in The Divorcee in 1931. In late Art Deco fashion, she wore a stack of wide gem-set bracelets and a diamond sautoir.
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Vivien Leigh, wearing a large emerald-cut gemstone pendant necklace and multi-gemstone bracelet, receives the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in ‘Gone with the Wind’ in 1940.
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Winning the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in ‘Kitty Foyle, Ginger Rogers poses with Best Actor Oscar winner Jimmy Stewart for The Philadelphia Story wearing a beautiful gem-set floral necklace and multi-stone cuff bracelet in 1941.
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At the 20th Academy Awards in 1948, Loretta Young won the Oscar for Best Actress playing Katie Holstrom in ‘The Farmer’s Daughter’. She wore a diamond and white gold necklace in true 1940s style.
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As a presenter at the 23rd Academy Awards in 1951, Marilyn Monroe wore black tulle from the 20th Century Fox wardrobe department and accessorized with a pair of simple diamond drop earrings and a wide Art Deco diamond bracelet.
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Audrey Hepburn won the Oscar for playing Princess Ann in ‘Roman Holiday’ at the 26th Academy Awards in 1954. She paired her gorgeous ivory lace gown by Givenchy with timeless, simple diamond and pearl drop earrings.
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The following year Grace Kelly reigned supreme at the 27th Academy Awards in 1955, where she won the Oscar for Best Actress for ‘The Country Girl.’ At the time the dress, a silk gown by Edith Head, was the most expensive in Oscar history – the material alone cost $4,000.
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For her first nomination for Best Actress (‘Raintree County’) at the 30th Academy Awards in 1958, Elizabeth Taylor proved to be Oscar royalty despite not winning the award that year. Alongside her third husband, producer Mike Todd, who did win an Oscar for Best Picture ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’, she wore the tiara he presented to her for the first time to the awards ceremony. In 2012, the Mike Todd Tiara, along with Taylor’s famous collection of jewelry, sold for a staggering $4,226,500 at Christie’s.
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In 1965, the Best Actress Oscar was awarded to Julie Andrews for her now-iconic role playing Mary Poppins in the eponymous film, wearing a bright yellow A-line dress and gorgeous diamond fringe necklace.
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At the 39th Academy Awards in 1967, Elizabeth Taylor won her second Best Actress Oscar for ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, to which she wore her famous Bulgari emerald suite of jewels. In 2012, the suite of emerald and diamond jewels fetched a total of $24,799,000 when it went up for auction at Christie’s.
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Image Credit: BVLGARI
The BVLGARI Emerald Suite, a suite of emerald and diamond jewelry (lots 26-31) fetched a total of $24,799,000 (£15,871,360/€19,095,230). Comprising a pendant brooch which achieved $6,578,500 (£4,210,240/ €5,065,445) setting a record price for an emerald jewel and an emerald per carat ($280,000); necklace ($6,130,500 /£3,923,520/ €4,720,485); ring ($3,330,500/£2,131,520/ €2,564,485); flower brooch ($1,538,500/£984,640/ €1,184,645); bracelet ($4,002,500/ £2,561,600/ €3,081,925) and earrings ($3,218,500/£2,059,840/ €2,478,245), the suite was acquired between 1962 and 1967. The majority of these jewels were selected over many repeat trips to the BVLGARI boutique on the Via Condotti in Rome.
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At the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970, Elizabeth Taylor wore a custom violet chiffon dress designed by Edith Head, complete with a plunging neckline to showcase the 69-carat pear-shaped diamond that her fifth husband Richard Burton purchased for her, originally as a ring, from Cartier for the rumored price tag of $1.1 million. After their second divorce, Taylor auctioned the diamond in 1978 for $5,000,000, which was used to build a hospital in Botswana.
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A presenter at the 47th Academy Awards in 1975, Jennifer O’Neill wore a dramatic gold choker link bib necklace for the ceremony.
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After winning the Oscar for Best Actress ‘Places of the Heart’ in 1985, Sally Field truly believed that everyone really like her. What I really like about her is the darling diamond bow necklace and delicate diamond jewels she wore that night.
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In 1991, Sophia Loren received an Honorary Oscar at the 63rd Academy Awards. She wore a pair of spectacular gem-set chandelier earrings and a gold geometric wide bangle bracelet for the momentous occasion.
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Elizabeth Taylor again outdoes everyone in the jewelry department at the Academy Awards, this time donning a gorgeous diamond daisy necklace from Van Cleef & Arpels when she received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Oscars in 1993. She had the necklace custom-made and added it to her jewelry collection.
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Uma Thurman‘s sleek violet dress by Prada helped redefine glamour on the red carpet. She wore an equally sleek and elegant diamond rivière necklace, diamond bracelet and diamond studs to complete the simply stunning look.
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Kate Winslet wearing a pink Vivienne Westwood gown and an Edwardian diamond necklace from Martin Katz at the 1996 Academy Awards.
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Also in 1996, Mira Sorvino won the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for “Mighty Aphrodite” at the 68th Academy Awards wearing a Giorgio Armani strapless gown and an elegant diamond fringe necklace and matching earrings.
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The definition of glamour on the Oscars Red Carpet changed entirely when Nicole Kidman stepped foot on the crimson runway in 1997. Her chartreuse embroidered John Galliano for Christian Dior shift dress was perfectly paired with Mogul Indian jewelry from Martin Katz, an eternally electrifying looks that made the actress’s mark as a Hollywood fashion icon.
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Also in 1997, Salma Hayek showed how to adorn the up-do with diamonds, wearing a diamond tiara to match her shimmery Armani gown.
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Madonna turned heads wearing a floor-length Olivier Theyskens coat-dress at the 1998 Oscars. She paired a beautiful vintage necklace from Fred Leighton to reign in the look.
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Gwyneth Paltrow channeled the timeless elegance of Grace Kelly in her pink princess gown by Ralph Lauren and Harry Winston jewels. After winning the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ her parents later purchased the $160,000 40-carat princess necklace for her as a gift – Harry Winston through in the $25,000 earrings at no charge.
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Hilary Swank, winning the Best Actress Oscar for her part in ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’ adorned her strapless bronze silk duppioni Randolph Duke gown with $250,000 diamond necklace from of Asprey & Garrard. The necklace was originally created for one of Queen Victoria’s daughters in 1890 and can be turned into a tiara.
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Another most memorable Oscar look, Charlize Theron set the red carpet ablaze in a plunging tangerine bias-cut chiffon by Vera Wang with a pair of Fred Leighton diamond clips and diamond bracelet.
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Her first time as an Oscar presenter, Heather Graham paired her Versace gown with a 50-carat diamond briolette choker from Fred Leighton in 2000.
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Winning the Oscar for Best Actress for playing the lead role in ‘Erin Brokovich,’ Julia Roberts wore vintage (’82) black-velvet Valentino couture and Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry. Roberts wore a 22-carat diamond “Snowflake” bracelet lent to her by Van Cleef & Arpels, which was bought one month later by singer Luis Miguel for $91,000 for Mariah Carey, his girlfriend at the time.
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Jennifer Lopez sure knows how to shine and wearing Fred Leighton diamond chandelier earrings with her Chanel dress at the 2001 Oscars definitely helps.
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Nominated for Best Actress for her role in ‘Moulin Rouge’, Nicole Kidman walked the Oscars Red Carpet in 2002 in pale pink Chanel couture column dress and a $4-million, 241-carat raw-diamond Bulgari necklace that she helped design.
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In 2003, big baubles were popular at the 75th Academy Awards – especially dangling earrings. Best Actress nominee Julianne Moore (‘Far from Heaven’) paired her specially made emerald green Yves Saint Laurent strapless silk georgette (originally shown in rose on the runway) with matching emerald pendant earrings from Boucheron.
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Winning the Oscar for Best Actress playing Virginia Woolf in ‘The Hours,’ Nicole Kidman looked seriously gorgeous in a deep-blue, slit-to-there sheath dress by Jean Paul Gaultier in 2003 and diamond chandelier earrings from Fred Leighton.
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Jennifer Lopez walked the Oscars Red Carpet in 2003 wearing a mint-green Valentino dress and should-duster diamond earrings from Fred Leighton worth $250,000.
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Keeping on trend with dangling earrings at the 2003 Oscars, Kate Hudson also wore a pair of earrings with 43-carats of diamonds, also from Fred Leighton, with her Versace dress; her’s were worth a reported $200,000
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Meryl Streep chose a unique Art Nouveau necklace with diamonds and emerald drops, valued at about $150,000, from Fred Leighton to add excitement to her simple black ball gown in 2003.
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Jennifer Garner wore a vibrant orange vintage Valentino gown and matched it with a Bulgari ring, Fred Leighton bracelets and diamond-and-crystal drop earrings at the 2004 Oscars.
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Nominated for Best Actress for her role in ’21 Grams’ in 2004, Naomi Watts brought some brilliant wattage to the Red Carpet in a beaded nude Versace gown, chosen Oscar day, and 5-carat pink-diamond Fred Leighton earrings.
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Truly bringing the diamond bling to the 2004 Oscars was Angelina Jolie, who wore a white silk-satin halter gown by Marc Bouwer and a $10 million, 85-carat Athena necklace, on loan from H. Stern, featuring D-flawless diamonds.
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Nicole Kidman was as elegant as ever at the 2004 Oscars in a Chanel dress, which took 400-plus hours to sew the crystals on the couture creation, and a Bulgari custom-made this 195-carat green-diamond necklace.
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In 2005, Kirsten Dunst wins my award for best jewel at the Oscars – Diana Vreeland’s rock crystal and diamond cuff bracelet by Suzanne Belperron (then from Fred Leighton and now privately owned), which she matched with a sleek, black lace Chanel frock.
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The Phantom of the Opera star Emmy Rossum shines in a classic ruby Ralph Lauren gown paired with matching diamond and ruby jewels from Harry Winston at the 2005 Oscars. The necklace has 28 carats of diamonds and 38 carats of rubies.
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House of Flying Daggers actress and Oscar presenter Ziyi Zhang wore a glamorous black Monique Lhuillier gown and a glittering 42-carat diamond necklace and 3-carat diamond earrings by Bulgari in 2005.
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Best Actress nominee ‘Pride & Prejudice’ Kiera Knightley chose an impressive vintage Bulgari necklace, circa 1960s, to go with her deep mauve Vera Wang gown.
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Counted as one of the best looks of all time, Michelle Williams radiated in a mustard-hued, beautifully pleated and tucked Vera Wang with vintage Fred Leighton jewels in 2006.
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posted by Jewels du Jour,March 1, 2014Jewelry On The Red Carpet