TEA & GEMSTONES EPISODE 006
BLING OF THE SILVER SCREEN
Hello everyone, welcome to Tea & Gemstones, your podcast home for talking about a mix of jewelry pop culture commentary coupled with the history of all things sparkly. I am your host, Jen.
I personally cannot think of a form of entertainment more versatile than a movie. A movie can make you cry, laugh, scream, think, take your breath away, entertain your children for a precious few minutes… movies are an escape from regular life. Besides being an interlude from reality, movies are a captured moment in time- the characters in a movie don’t age, the story doesn’t change, it can be infinitely comforting to go back to your favorite movie, knowing it’s encapsulated world will be the same as before and will provide you the escape you crave for 90 minutes or so. While the actor’s performances and the backgrounds and special effects meld into creating a movie’s world, I believe the little details of a movie’s fabric are part of what makes it so enrapturing. And some of those beautiful little details…. Are sparkly.
This list is crafted in no particular order. I thought about perhaps going chronologically, or by a theme, but then I decided it would be much more fun to just let this be random. No, you know what? There is a theme. The theme is that this list is highlighting pieces that *I* like, haha! So for instance Titanic… not one of my favorites, so no Heart of the Ocean big blue heart necklace talk… beyond what I just said. But we will spend a good chunk of time on the piece of iconic cinema achievements known as Legally Blonde and The Devil Wears Prada. Alright, here we go!
The critically panned ‘Sex & the City 2” movie from 2010 doesn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities if you’re considering things like ‘a plot.’ But if you watch the movie on mute, it’s beautiful- the exotic locales, the clothes, the accessories. One accessory spends very little time on screen, but it was a revelation for me the moment I saw it. Carrie Bradshaw is a problematic character who honestly I’ve ever really liked, but her black diamond ring from Mr. Big was one of the first time’s I saw a nonwhite basic engagement ring in mainstream media. Spoiler Alert: the movie finale is Mr. Big re-proposing to Carrie in her custom shoe closet he built her with a 5-carat black diamond ring set in 18 kt white gold surrounded by a whopping 80 pave white diamonds. When Carrie asks, “why black?” Mr. Big responds, “because you’re not like anyone else.” When I heard that at the ripe old age of 20, I’m not gonna lie, it definitely help solidify my philosophy that jewelry should be an extension, a reflection of your personality. Since the black engagement ring was given at the end of the movie, we haven’t seen Carrie actually wearing the stone. But I am really curious with the HBO revival “And Just Like That” coming out soon… maybe we’ll see the ring in action.
If Carrie Bradshaw is a character I struggle to like… Andie Anderson is a movie character I adored instantly when I saw her on screen in 2003. If you don’t recognize the character name… I’ll paint you a word picture. She has a bright smile, blonde hair… she invented the “love fern”, she wears a long slinky yellow dress, leans against a tanned Matthew McConaughey on the movie poster… yeah- it’s Kate Hudson in “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” And while Kate and Matthew get top billing, the third star of this romcom is definitely the jewelry. $14 million dollars in gems were loaned to the movie production, and the piece de la resistance is a necklace that holds the title of “most expensive piece of jewelry ever custom made for a movie.” The necklace makes its appearance at the film’s epic gala event. At the gala women are told to, “Frost Themselves” with jewelry- and Andie Anderson is adorned with the custom necklace- it harkens to the Tiffany diamond in its current necklace setting. The movie necklace was made by Harry Winston and features an 80-carat yellow diamond pendant hung on a white diamond chain. Harry Winston named the necklace the “Isadora” after dancer Isadora Duncan, the ‘mother of modern dance.’ When the finished Isadora was shown to the movie’s costume designers, they threw out the first gown they had made for Kate Hudson and made a new custom yellow silk gown to compliment the gem. Usually I’m a bit anti- going ‘yellow on yellow’… see Anya Taylor-Joy at the Emmy’s a few weeks ago… but here with Kate and that epic necklace, it works. It’s all golden sunshine. The Isadora is so beautiful, and I wish it was displayed somewhere people could go and see it. But alas, after the movie premiere, the Isadora was sold to a private collector and like so many one-of-a-kind jewels, it’s vanished from public view.
Let’s transition from the world of rom-com to historical. Period movies offer up a wealth of fantastical accessories and detailed costumes for our eyes to feast on. But the necklace I want to talk about is on the simpler side, but that simplicity allows it to really stand out. In the 2008 movie, “The Other Boleyn Girl”, Natalie Portman plays Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated wife of King Henry the 8th of England. Poor Anne was the king’s second wife, and after Anne gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth, the king was tired of her and wanted to try on a new wife in his quest for a son, so he had Anne’s head cut off for a litany of false crimes, like witchcraft and incest. After her death, King Henry ordered all his ex-wife’s portraits destroyed. But one survived and went onto to become iconic. The portrait is from the 17th century and inspired by an early painting that’s been lost to time. The portrait of Anne Boleyn hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London and depicts a woman with a small smile and piercing eyes, wearing a dark fitted bodice dress and a pearl necklace. The necklace is choker length, a tight string of white pearls, with a large golden “B”- the letter, not the insect, hanging from the center with three teardrop shaped pearls hanging from the initial. The necklace is unusual in its design, there are no other records of another necklace like it. The jewelry strikingly sets Anne apart in a room full of women piling on so many details in their accessories it all blends together- her simple necklace highlights her delicate throat (ironic isn’t it… considering her ultimate fate) proving you didn’t need gobs of diamonds to attract the attention of a king. Initial jewelry first entered history in about the 14th or 15th century, but Anne’s necklace is one of our earliest known famous examples. Rotten Tomatoes gives “The Other Boleyn Girl” a 43% fresh rating, but the jewelry in the film is 100 for me.
The next movie I want to talk about probably could have been an entire podcast feature on its own… the sparklingly brilliant cinematic achievement that is… “Legally Blonde.” Now, the movie is circa 2001, and while some of the clothing dates itself to the 2000s, which is more ambiguous now with the fashion revival of the 90’s/2000s resurgence, but Elle’s jewelry couldn’t be more classic. Round white diamond studs, and matching diamond solitaire necklace. Tiffany & Co. silver pieces. Iconic Hermes. Elle’s watch is the Hermes Kelly padlock watch, inspired by lock detail featured on the French brand’s epic bag, the Kelly. During the ‘bend & snap’ scene Elle sports a Hermes leather bracelet. And of course, Mr. Harry Winston gets his famous call out- when Elle’s ex-boyfriend proposes to his preppy Harvard classmate played by Selma Blair, Elle bemoans to her manicurist, “she has the 6 carat Harry Winston on her bony, unpolished finger.” Excusing the massive diamond engagement ring from the jerky loser… This movie is filled to the fashionable brim with jewelry I would consider “entry level investment pieces.” They won’t break the bank to add them to your collection. They’re classic staples. These pieces have been around for decades and will continue to be around and if you want one you should have purchased it like, yesterday, because this jewelry is never going to cost less than they do right now. My own personal example is the Return to Tiffany silver bracelet Elle sports through the first half of the film. That bracelet was my very first jewelry obsession. I cut pictures of it out of magazines and taped them to the fridge. I begged my parents at every gift giving occasion until Christmas, maybe it was 2003? The Tiffany box under the tree contained my very own Return to Tiffany tag bracelet from my parents and it was love at first sight. Back then the bracelet cost about $200. As of 2021, the same bracelet retails for $625. So, please consider this your permission granted to go shopping, you are actually saving money in the long run, right? Anyway, Legally Blonde was a movie that I feel like truly gave women permission to be glamourous and wear accessories in the workplace, at school, and still be taken seriously. Jewelry helps us show the world who we are, while imbuing us with confidence. Elle Woods showed me that yes, I can be both sparkly and smart.
Legally Blonde in 2001 was my watershed moment for becoming obsessed with jewelry, but there was a movie in 2005 that gave me my go-to accessory for sophomore year of high school. It’s really random, ha- it’s “Monster-in-Law.” Yeah, you probably either forgot that film existed or never knew about it in the first place. It’s basically Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez being ridiculous to each other for 101 minutes, but all throughout the movie, J. Lo wears this amazing bohemian statement necklace. It’s somehow both a statement piece and subtle- it’s a thin gold-filled chain, maybe 18 inches, with a large teardrop pendant of faceted pineapple quartz by designer Shari Wacks. Pineapple quartz is a gemstone from Madagascar and it has a cloudy yellow-cream appearance, and I had never seen a gemstone like it before. I love yellow stones, they are some of my most favorites, so when I saw that necklace I just fell in love. I saved up money from working at Build-a-Bear Workshop (my first paying job) and bought one for $99 which felt like an absurd amount of money for a necklace- ha if my 16-year-old self could see me now. And I wore that necklace like every day of sophomore and most of junior year of high school. I actually am super sad because in one of my half dozen moves in the last decade the necklace has gone missing. But I’ll always have the photos from high school to remember it bye. That necklace was my first introduction to an unusual gemstone being highlighted in a piece of jewelry, I love when more non-mainstream gems get exposure. But really- that necklace is about the only redeeming quality from “Monster-in-Law.” So in conclusion, don’t watch the movie, but do look up pineapple quartz.
I’m closing out this list with one most majestic modern fashion movies of all time… The Devil Wears Prada. The accessories in this film are paramount to shaping who these characters are, you can learn their personalities, read their moods, just from your first glance at what they are wearing. And also… it’s just a delicious eye-feast of fun things to look at. The first time we meet Emily Blunt’s character she is wearing a Saint Laurent silver chain belt as a necklace. It sets the tone for her character being a little subversive, she’s putting a twist on high luxury to make it her own without venturing too far. When our eyes first alight upon the soft speaker of sharp words herself, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly, she’s sitting at her desk like it’s a throne, resplendent all in jewel tones. Statement jewel tones at that. She has one hand to her chin highlighting a large green cocktail ring, she has red jeweled large hoop earrings, she’s wearing a deep plum hued dress. It conveys richness, confidence and luxury with just one glance at her. Miranda is a character not afraid of anything, and she portrays that with her accessories and outfits. Where most people might stop, Miranda takes it one step more. In the famous scene when Miranda read’s her poor assistant Anne Hathaway to filth for not understanding the trickle-down effect of high fashion to the masses, Miranda is wearing a beaded golden jacket. You would think with a large statement clothing item like that, no jewelry would be needed- hah- Miranda layers on multiple long golden statement necklaces over the jacket and crowns the look with hoop earrings. We are treated to a scene of Miranda embracing what some consider a faux-paz, mixing metals: she wears huge white gold hoops, a platinum ring, a gray pearl choker and a gold Egyptian revival bracelet. Coco Chanel has the famous quote that before she left the house, she looked in the mirror and took one thing off. I think that’s boring and Miranda definitely always looked in the mirror and put one more thing ON. Anne Hathaway’s character, Andrea, doesn’t have many jewelry shining moments in the film, that’s probably due to the fact of her character playing the foil to the high fashion world around her. However, she does get to wear many a statement necklace. They’re usually by Chanel and featuring soft feminine elements designed to convey her vulnerability and kindness- we see lots of bows, pearls and delicate charms. She wears lots of neutral tone dresses and black blouses to let her necklaces really shine as crucial to her look. With such a neutral point of view to her accessories, the viewer can really project themselves into Andrea’s Jimmy Choo’s, while Miranda is just a sight to behold, not to emulate.
Movie characters can make us laugh, give us a new perspective on life situations, show us how we would – or would NOT- like our relationships to be. But the connection to fictional figures on screen will be hindered if those figures don’t feel authentic. And the jewelry and accessories used on the silver screen contribute greatly to a character’s whole persona. How do we establish someone’s fierceness, bohemian outlook, femininity or confidence with just a quick visual introduction? The power of a well-placed amazing piece of jewelry. And what we see on the movie screen might just stick with us, we can fall in love with a new style, a specific piece, and then it finds it’s way into our own jewelry boxes, becomes a part of ourselves.
Do you have a sparkly movie moment you will remember forever? Head over to Tea & Gemstones on Instagram and leave a comment on the grid post for this episode to let us know! Check out our show notes for a link to our blog for a transcript of this episode and our bibliography. Our theme song is by Joseph McDade. This has been Tea & Gemstones, Bling of the Silver Screen, and I, Jen have enjoyed being your host. Okay everyone, until next time, Stay Sparkly.
T&G EPISODE 006
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Callahan, Wendy. “Famous Jewelry In The Movies, Vol. 5: How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days.” Katie Callahan & Co., 8 Mar. 2021, www.katiecallahanandco.com/2017/09/famous-jewelry-in-the-movies.
Cooper, Sabrina. “The Secret Story of Anne Boleyn’s Lost Necklace.” CR Fashion Book, 14 Nov. 2019, www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a29775840/anne-boleyn-lost-necklace-history-king-henry-viii.
Fasel, Marion. “The Bling and Brilliance of ‘Legally Blonde’ | The Adventurine.” The Adventurine, theadventurine.com/culture/movies-tv/a-lookback-at-the-bling-and-brilliance-of-legally-blonde. Accessed 8 Oct. 2021.
---. “The Most Memorable Jewels on ‘Sex and the City’ | The Adventurine.” The Adventurine, theadventurine.com/culture/movies-tv/the-most-memorable-jewels-on-sex-and-the-city. Accessed 4 Oct. 2021.
Meowder. “The Devil Wears Prada: The Wardrobe | Feather Factor.” Feather Factor |, 26 July 2016, www.featherfactor.com/2014/10/the-devil-wears-prada-the-wardrobe.html.
“The Other Boleyn Girl.” Rotten Tomatoes, 29 Feb. 2008, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/other_boleyn_girl.
“Pineapple Quartz.” (C) 2014, 9 Oct. 2021, www.geologyin.com/2020/05/pineapple-quartz.html.
“Return to Tiffany® Heart Tag Bracelet in Sterling Silver with a Diamond, Medium | Tiffany & Co.” Tiffany & Co, www.tiffany.com/jewelry/bracelets/return-to-tiffany-heart-tag-bracelet-GRP12059. Accessed 9 Oct. 2021.
Wacks, Shari. “Jennifer Lopez in the Movie.” Shari Wacks, shariwacks.com/products/jennifer-lopez-pineapple-quartz-necklace. Accessed 9 Oct. 2021.