As awards season continues and The 91st Annual Academy Awards (to be aired on Feb 24, 2019) approaches, we have witnessed a resurgence of Hollywood glamour overall and particularly in diamond jewelry. Whether the stars of today act as brand ambassadors or employ stylists who are like fairy godmothers when it comes to creating magical looks for their stars, it’s great fun to watch as A-list actresses make their red carpet appearances.
However, in the past, I have written a number of articles which have taken a look back at the best jewelry worn to the Oscars and other awards. One of my favorites times was researching the pieces different celebrities of the golden era of Hollywood donned at awards presentations and finding that much of it was their own personal jewelry. These stars were still ambassadors as many of them shopped at Cartier, Bulgari, Tiffany & Co. and other renowned brands of their time. But the magic of these pieces was that they were the actresses very own treasures which they wore them for multiple occasions and often in the films in which they were cast. Their individual tastes and styles create demand for similar jewels and launched trends across the globe.
It’s no surprise to anyone in the jewelry biz or to jewelry enthusiasts that Elizabeth Taylor was one of the major collectors of the Hollywood set and her love for jewels was recorded in her book, aptly named My Love Affair With Jewelry (Simon & Schuster 2002). She appeared in her own awe-inspiring pieces at The Academy Awards throughout her career. She was nominated for five awards of which she won two for Best Actress for her roles in Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. It seemed befitting before next week’s Oscar Sunday that we pay tribute to the woman who continues to inspire the jewelry industry and collectors today and whose pieces always told a story.
The very young and glamorous Elizabeth Taylor with 2nd husband Michael Wilding at the 26th Academy Awards in 1954.
Elizabeth Taylor with husband at the time Mike Todd at the 29th Academy Awards on March 27, 1957. Todd, who was Taylor’s third husband and one of the two big loves of her life won the Oscar for best picture for his film Around The World In 80 Days. Elizabeth Taylor is wearing the diamond tiara that Todd bought for her. In her book, My Love Affair With Jewelry, Taylor relates, “When Mike gave me this tiara, he said, ‘You’re my queen, and I think you should have a tiara.’” A number of Hollywood actresses wore tiaras in the ’50s and prior eras, inspired by European royalty. The wearing of diadems, tiaras and hair ornaments is back in style today and we hope to see more of it on upcoming Oscar night.
Elizabeth Taylor holding her Oscar for Best Actress at the 33rd Academy Awards in April 1961 for her performance in Butterfield 8. She is standing with Burt Lancaster who won Best Actor the same year. Here Taylor wears diamond and cultured pearl earrings by Ruser. The Beverly Hills jeweler to the stars, William Ruser, first launched his career at Trabert & Hoeffer-Mauboussin. Eventually, he left the East Coast and after working for THM in California, he opened his own jewelry shop on Rodeo drive. In 1947, he began to add all types of pearls to his diamond jewelry selection.
Anne Bancroft accepted the award for Elizabeth Taylor when she was the recipient of the Best Actress award for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf in 1967. However, both Taylor and Richard Burton received Best Actress and Actor Awards at the 1967 BAFTAs for their performances in the film. For this occasion, Taylor wore her Bulgari suite that Burton had purchased for her at different times in their romance and marriage. While on location in Italy in 1962 she stated that ‘undeniably one of the biggest advantages to filming Cleopatra in Rome was Bulgari’s shop.’ It was at this time that Taylor and her then-married co-star, Richard Burton started their love affair. Burton was quick to pick up on the way to Taylor’s heart, and quipped: ‘The only Italian Elizabeth knows is Bulgari.’ Taylor recalls in her book My Love Affair with Jewelry that Burton wanted to buy her a gift and they headed over to Bulgari. They were shown two emerald necklaces, and one had a detachable brooch with diamonds around it. This was the one she chose. It was a step-cut Colombian emerald of 23.44 carats, created by Bulgari in 1958 as a brooch. Burton purchased it for her as a gift and the actress wore the brooch on their wedding day in March 1964. Soon after, she received the emerald necklace to which the brooch could be attached, which was mounted with sixteen step-cut octagonal Colombian emeralds of an estimated total of 60.50 carats, each surrounded by brilliant-cut and pear-shaped diamonds. She also acquired a remarkable pair of diamond and emerald pear-shaped pendant earrings and a fantastic emerald and marquise-shaped diamond ‘zigzag’ bracelet, which Taylor said she liked to wear with the brooch. She was then given an emerald ring set in platinum with a step-cut octagonal emerald of c.7.40 carats surrounded with pear-shaped diamonds to complete this parure. She would continue to wear pieces from her emerald collection for the rest of her life and particularly at some of the most important milestones like this one.
Elizabeth Taylor with Richard Burton at the 42nd Academy Awards in April 1970 wearing what became named the Taylor-Burton diamond. When it went up at auction, it was reported to be the twelfth largest diamond in the world. Burton had some heavy competition in the bidding. It was purported that Aristotle Onassis was also bidding on the 69.42-carat pear-shaped diamond ring. Burton gave his representative at the auction a limit of $1 million to spend. But when the hammer went down, the ring was sold to Cartier for $50,000 more. Burton was distraught at missing out. Refusing to take no for an answer, he negotiated with Cartier and bought the ring from them for $1.1 million, with the agreement to allow Cartier to display the stone for a limited period in their Chicago and New York stores. Though Taylor originally wore the diamond as a ring, she found it too huge and decided to have Cartier design a necklace around it.
Elizabeth Taylor with Paul Newman at the 64th Annual Academy Awards in April 1992, 34 years after the two co-starred in the film version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Taylor is wearing the chandelier earrings husband Mike Todd purchased for her. As the story goes, when Taylor and Todd were in Paris, he bought her a pair of beautiful antique paste chandelier earrings she had asked him for in a shop on Place Vendôme. A couple of months later back in New York, Taylor said they felt different on her ears. She discovered that Todd had recreated the earrings with real diamonds. Taylor was overjoyed and continued to wear them to different events on various occasions throughout her life. One of these occasions was to the premier the film Raintree County in 1957.
Although the jewels worn to awards are often jaw-dropping and allow the actresses to shine, none are as alluring and personal as those Elizabeth Taylor and other stars owned and wore throughout their lives.
