Kate Middleton Wedding Jewelry: The Trouble With Tiaras

Kate Middleton's wedding jewelry has been the subject of MUCH speculation in bauble land, especially since she's apparently the only one who will be wearing a wedding band now that Prince Wills opted out of the sacred ritual.

So. Most royal watchers are fixating on the tiara - a favorite past time with this crowd. But does Kate have to wear one? In a word: YES!

Lady Diana chose to wear her own family heirloom when she married Prince Charles - the Diamond Spencer tiara. But since Kate is, how shall I say this delicately - a lowly commoner - it's likely her family doesn't have a stash of tiaras at the ready.

The Queen could, of course, choose to lend or (gasp!) give Kate a tiara from her vast collection - which would be seen as a sign of confidence in the bride. (Click here to learn more about the Queen's tiara collection - and which one is the current Kate frontrunner).

I love the idea of a NEW tiara making it's debut (along with an Alexander McQueen wedding gown, fingers crossed!) and InStyle's wily editors apparently agree since they recently asked some of the jewelry world's top designers to sketch out their vision for a Kate Middleton wedding tiara in an awesome pictorial. 

I love this one by Chopard (of course).

And that wacky Alexis Bitter's interpretation is just crazy enough to drive the Queen to an early grave.

So what will mack out the mellon of this most famous bride? We'll just have to ride the neverending Royal Wedding pre-party wave - and keep the guessing games going until the big day on the 29th.

In the meantime, JewelClub is getting in the spirit with the launch of their Royal Sample Sale today - with lots of great Kate-inspired sapphire sample sale steals, royal watchers!

And YES the  Royal Wedding Live Tweet party is ON! We're using #royaljewelry for anyone who wants to join the fun. And YES - I will be getting up at 4AM to see it live. And YES - I think I may have a jewelry addiction problem.

Christina Hendricks and the Golden Globe Gaff

Losing important or expensive jewelry is every woman's worst nightmare. Not the 'Lindsay Lohan'  way of losing jewelry (e.g. conveniently forgetting to return the loaner in your purse) - but the good old fashioned 'I accidently flushed my engagement ring down the toilet' brand of losing.

Enter Mad Men maven, Christina Hendricks, who lived out the horror at the Golden Globes when she lost an $850,000 diamond Chopard loaner bangle during her walk down the red carpet. When the ravishing red head realized her blingy bangle was MIA, she frantically started asking,

“Have you seen a diamond bracelet? I’ve lost one that looks like this,” pointing to the one sparkly bracelet still fastened to her wrist, according to the New York Post.

At that point, Christina did what any reasonable woman would do. She high-tailed it outta there to retrace her steps. Thankfully an event worker recovered it and handed it back to the star.

A representative from Chopard confirmed she wore a total of 200 (only?!) carats of their diamonds for the show. In addition to the lost and found bracelet, the other one was a 49-carat emerald and Marquis-cut diamond bracelet, also set in platinum.

Wish I would have seen that during the red carpet coverage. Note to E! - we are paying attention!!

 

All's well that ends well in Christina's case. But not all of us are so lucky. Be sure to bone up on all the latest information to help you protect your jewelry collection in the event of a loss or theft. It's like cuting yourself off from that third martini - it's not a lot of fun, but you'll thank yourself in the morning.

Jewelry Statements Close Cannes

The jewelry jaw-droppers continued to shine on La Croisette as the 2010 Cannes Film Festival closed this weekend in grand fashion.

To those jewelry trackers who've lamented the loss of the statement necklace (yours truly included), the look was alive and well in the south of France on the fab-tastic Grace Jones and many others.


I'm in love with this Boucheron gold fringe wrap-around necklace on Salma Hayek worn to the closing ceremony.


And this Cartier platinum, diamond and onyx piece from the Panthere collection made an otherwise dull ensemble pop on Juliette Binoche, who walked away with the Palm D'or for Best Actress.


The always star-studded amFar Cinema Against AIDS gala during the festival brought out statement earring styles and this great diamond palm frond hair piece on one of my favorite style stars, Diane Kruger.


And icy jewels sparkled on a stunning Jennifer Lopez in a Roberto Cavali blush gown with Chopard diamond jewelry.


Do you have a favorite from this round-up? I'm going with Salma Hayek this time - it's just a stunning overall look and a unique gold jewelry statement you don't see often.

Chopard Celebrates 150 Years

Noah's Ark never looked this good, jewelry hounds. The luxury watch stalwart and red carpet staple, Chopard, is celebrating their 150th Anniversary with a dazzling array of 150 unique animal-inspired pieces - their largest and most diverse collection devoted to a single theme.

And what a theme it is.

In true Chopard style, the pieces required 20,000 hours of work and involved setting 250,000 stones.

"I really wanted to make them like sculptures," Chopard co-president and artistic director Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele told WWD of the pieces. "If people want to buy one, they will have to reserve it and get it at the end of November."

Thankfully, they've created a microsite devoted to the effort, where you can gawk at over a dozen of the drool-worthy gems up for grabs.

Here are some of my favs (Check out the whopper of a yellow diamond in the turtle ring. Slow and steady wins this race!):

Monkey pendant in white gold set with brown diamonds (5cts) and tsavorites (5cts), on a white gold chain set with briolette-cut rubellites (16cts).

Turtle ring in rose gold, composed of a magnificent pear-cut yellow diamond (11cts) surrounded by brown diamonds (3cts), cognac-coloured diamonds and yellow diamonds (2cts).

Bear Cub Ring composed of two sapphires (0,1ct), one onyx and diamonds (23,8ct) set in white gold.

Rabbit Bracelet in white gold set with diamonds (7cts), brown diamonds, pear-shaped rose-cut orange sapphires (15cts), oval shaped green tourmalines (4cts) and marquise-cut green tourmalines (2cts).

Sardine Bracelet in white gold set with diamonds (4cts), sapphires (11cts) and sapphire cabochons.

Which one do you want to bring home? Weigh in!

Lil Wayne's Diamond Bonanza

What to get a Grammy award-winning rapper who has everything? How about a $1 million Chopard diamond watch? Oh, and a $200,000 black diamond chain for good measure.

No whiff of an economic crisis in these parts, thank you very much...

The watch was a special-order gift purchased by Brian "Birdman" Williams, who is chief executive of the 'aptly' named Cash Money Records, the label that includes Lil Wayne as one of its featured artists.

So I am admittedly a little late to this party (the news of this outrageous display of blingy wealth went down late last month), but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to share the best part of this story for those of you who missed the shenanigans:

Not only did the cash king get millions in diamond jewelry to bring in his 27^th year, he got a diamond-studded birthday cake to go with the flowing cases of Dom.

A diamond birthday cake? OK. Now I’ve heard everything.

What do you guys think of this crazy diamond display? Has the famous phrase, 'Let Them Eat Cake', taken on an entirely new meaning? Or if you got it? Flaunt it!

Crazy Caratage Continues at Cannes

TGIF, jewelry hounds!

If you want something to take your mind off of the horrible excuse for a Grey's Anatomy finale last night, you've come to the right place. Nothing like a little diamond shock to put you in a good mood for the weekend.

With Chopard as a main sponsor, I've been salivating over the crazy jewelry statements that are likely to make a splash at Cannes until the festival ends on the 25th. Here are a few of my favorite looks from today's premieres.

What do you guys think? Too much or not enough?

Cannes 2009: Couture, Cinema and Chopard

Cannes you dig it? The yachts are docked, the champagne is flowing and the jewelry is already incroyable as the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival gets underway in the south of France this week.

I just love this film festival. Known for booing crowds and unmatched extravagance, it’s no wonder the fashion police are on high alert as the world’s biggest stars put their best 'pied' forward.

And while many fashion sponsors like Fendi and Swarovski have bowed out this year due to that pesky economy, thank the skies above that Chopard has hung in there. Why? Because they designed 62 couture pieces of jewelry this year to be worn by The Croisette’s biggest stars.










































Pixar’s latest entry, UP, already premiered and Chopard made big jewelry statements on co-President, Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and model du jour Eugenia Silva.

Cannes juror and Sean Penn ex, Robin Wright Penn, is quite simply always a stunner and tonight was no exception as she appeared in a silvery gown with diamond spray earrings. Who knows how much she had to put up with all these years, but it certainly doesn’t show. Bravo.

Fellow juror, Shu Qi, upped the ante with a vintage diamond statement piece, and gemstone earrings dusted the shoulders of beauties Alessia Piovan and Jaydy Michel.




























And this is just the beginning, jewelry hounds. Cannes darling, Quentin Tarrantino, is here with his Brad Pitt starrer, Inglorious Basterds, and everyone is scrambling to make an appearance.

So stick with the old 'JI' here to see all the crazy Croisette fashion carnage as the week progresses, and be sure to visit the Jewelry.com Facebook page to gawk at an album full of more drool-worthy Cannes jewels.

Diamonds and spray-tans and yachts! Mon Dieu!

SAG Jewelry - Golden Ears, Bejewled Necks and a Case of the Blues

Are you as tired of seeing giant earrings on the red carpet as I am? I understand the sentiment. Hollywood doesn't want to overdo it with a huge diamond ensemble or a Titanic-sized necklace during these trying times, yet it IS the red carpet, after all, so stylists compromise with.... the ubitquitous giant earring.


















Last night's Screen Actors Guild Awards had big earrings a kimbo - from Christina Applegate in Lorraine Schwartz wagon wheels and Paula Abdul in diamond danglers to Amy Adams in giant H. Stern gemstone chandeliers and Lisa Rhinna's flower look. And they are lovely, don't get me wrong. But imagine my surprise when new trends presented themselves for a change - like basic gold earring statements from the likes of Angelina Jolie (the poster child of basic), Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss and the hilarious Jane Krakowski.


















And the new looks didn't end there. Bejeweled necklines made a glittering show on Anne Hathaway, January Jones and Eva Longoria - perhaps inspired by Michelle Obama's diamond statement on Inauguration Day?


















Colorful, off-the-shoulder looks were everywhere, and blue emerged as fashion's big winner. Best Supporting Actress, Kate Winslet, stunned in steel blue Narciso Rodriguez and Chopard diamonds; and Desperate Housewives, Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross, added blue gemstone earrings to their SAG looks. And the usually gothed out Evan Rachel Wood channeled classic Hollywood in teal and a unique diamond eagle brooch. Her split from Marilyn Manson is the wise choice that just keeps on giving...


















So OK. Gold earrings, jeweled necklines and the color blue are certainly not big red carpet revelations, but can we admit that they are a welcome change from the big earring brigade that seems to scream 'lack of imagination' when it comes to accessorizing a high profile look these days? Thank you.

I'm looking forward to more of this 'mixing it up' when it comes to the Oscars, OK ladies? Let's just hope Oscar voters do the same when they see Meryl Streep's name on the ballot this year. She's great - and she nabbed the SAG this year - but let's give someone else a go, shall we?