Hello everyone- welcome to Tea and Gemstones, the home for your shiny mix of commentary and history of all things sparkly- aka jewelry, gemstones and style. I am your host, Jen.
One of the great apexes of modern-day jewelry displays would have to be the Hollywood red carpet. It’s where the “wow” moments can happen- priceless museum quality pieces on some of the most beautiful bodies in the world. Ultra-luxury avantgarde pieces making a cover of a magazine level statement. The couture gowns must pair perfectly with the jewels- it’s a delicate symbiotic relationship, you don’t want the jewelry outshining the clothes or the dress distracting from the gems. When all the fashion notes hit just right- the red-carpet moment goes down in epic history.
These past few weeks we have witnessed two red-carpets with very different vibes: the Met Gala and the Emmys. The Met Gala has a theme every year, this year it was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” The met gala is the epitome of avant-garde, out-of-the-box fashion thinking- it’s not about wearability, it’s about making a capital S statement. Everyone has turned their creativity up to a 12 out of 10. How do you stand out when everyone is cranking up the wattage of their star power? You get creative. Ciara borrowed her husband Russell Wilson’s Super Bowl ring to accent her lime green sequin dress inspired by his football uniform. Should I make a joke about this look being a touchdown? Probably best to stay in my lane haha
Singer Normani embraced rare blue colored diamonds as her way to find the spotlight. She wore a mustard yellow Valentino dress with a cinched waist, huge poofy Disney-princess-esque sleeves, and it had a plunging front neckline. All that open chest is the better to display her Lorraine Schwartz gems- she had a blue diamond pear necklace on a long white diamond chain and two rings- one with a white and blue diamond flower and one with a blue marquise cut diamond. The pops of blue with the yellow were unexpected. It’s an old-school classic Americana color combo, the blue and white with yellow- think like a blue and white country kitchen with sunflowers… but done in a Valentino gown with diamonds, it’s modern and chic.
Speaking of flowers, Jordan Alexander from the Gossip Girl reboot, she wore a Tiffany & Co. Schlumberger daisy necklace with matching earrings. The daisy flower shape can read more childish, but Tiffany’s eschewed the younger vibe of the shape by doing the daisies in orange, gold and green instead of traditional white and yellow. Some people are averse to “matchy-matchy” earrings to a necklace, but with all the different colors at play and the variations of the daisy flower petals, I think the choice to match earrings to the necklace just amplifies the power of the accessories.
Staying on the topic of necklaces, Gabrielle Union wore a choker that just blew me away- it’s a tight row of white marquise and pear-shaped diamonds all the way around- and those pear diamonds are… sizable. The showstopping piece is from a French high jewelry company called Messika, and they’re relatively new on the jewelry scene, they were founded in Paris in 2005. Fun fact- almost all the 230 employees at Messika are female! That’s pretty unusual for a high jewelry house, it’s a very male dominated field. I can’t wait to see if Messika puts any pieces on the Academy Awards red carpet.
With my four-year-old daughter obsessed with all things rainbow- I definitely know which red carpet jewels she would want: Diane Kruger’s earrings were the stuff of absolute fantasy. Anchored by a golden pearl, the rainbow assortment of gems are arranged in a fan shape- like one half of a classic angel wing. The tips of the wing go almost from the top of her ear to the middle of her neck. Her dress was lime green, featuring a stomach cut-out, a puffy short skirt and a cape with a train. The rainbow sparkles of her earrings played off her hot pink eyeshadow and strappy heels. The look is absolutely a lot for anywhere other than the Met Gala, for the Met Gala is seemed super appropriate and almost low-key. Oh! A new jewel made it’s debut with Diane- her new large square cut white diamond engagement ring from Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead fame. Her ring is estimated to be about 8 carats in size and she just received it at the end of August. You go girl.
So just about everyone at the Met Gala went with super glam gems, so much sparkle and ornate settings- these are complex, master works of high jewelry. But Jennifer Lopez veered away from the sparkle and modern flash and instead used her jewelry accessories to help her outfit tell a story of a moment in American time; the Wild Wild West. The wild west era only lasted about 30 years, from the 1860s to 1890s. But there is no doubt the fashion of cowboys, saloon girls, Native Americans and ranchers lives on eternally. The designer who swathed J.Lo in this aesthetic is the iconic Mr Ralph Lauren, who is American representation in his own right- I mean, the man literally designs the USA Olympic uniforms. The jewelry from the look was all from the Ralph Lauren archives and featured a lot of leather- necklaces, belts, bracelets and a hat. She also wore a Navajo nation silver ring and silver coin necklace. The Navajo nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the US. Now… Jennifer Lopez isn’t Native American, she’s Puerto Rican, born in the Bronx. Is she allowed to wear more “western” style jewelry? The capacity of what she wore to the Met Gala, I say yes. She wasn’t not culturally appropriating a “costume.” The silver Native American pieces were not the focal point, the leather pieces were.
Native American jewelry is very rarely featured on Hollywood red carpets, but I want to tie up the Met Gala accessories review with a spotlight on my very favorite jewelry look of the evening: Quannah Chasinghorse. She’s a 19-year-old rising model breaking through high fashion barriers for Indigenous representation. Quannah comes from a mix of two tribes, Han Gwich’in and Lakota, but she spent a large part of life with the Navajo nation. Her aunt was actually a famous Navajo beauty queen, and she loaned Quannah the epic turquoise and silver jewels she wore down the Met Gala red carpet. The silver and blue stones layered against her skin and coupled with the gold lame gown (complete with billowing cape) by designer Peter Dundas create a unique visual combination hardly ever seen on a red carpet. Her look had this visual freshness to it when your eyes see it, sheerly on the fact that your eyes have not SEEN this kind of look before, it’s new to luxury event. But then isn’t that… sad? Quannah’s look is the most “America” of any of the fashion looks at this America themed event- it’s literally Native American. And the most deeply American look is one that is so infrequently represented. I am hoping that with Quannah featured on so many Top Ten lists from this event, Indigenous jewelry brands will see their exposure levels to the masses soar.
Let’s transition away from the fantasy land of the Met Gala- a red carpet for experimentation and embraced kookiness. The Emmys are called “TV Biggest Night” and this past 73rd awards ceremony grappled with the effect of being one week after the extravagance of the Met Gala. The Emmys fashion looks this year were a reverb from the outlandish Gala- stylists seemed to bounce back from the Met’s technicolor creativity with returning to a “safe space” of classic glamour.
It’s no secret that the fashion of the 1990s and early 2000s is having a major nostalgic heyday right now. On the Emmy red carpet we saw this nostalgia embraced with choker-style necklaces, or the very slightly looser version of a choker, barely off the neck, gracing the upper collarbone. Sometimes it seems like the stylists putting together the red carpet looks all share one Pinterest inspiration board… and the common theme of this year’s Emmy’s jewelry were these white diamond choker necklaces. This year we had MJ Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo (e ree veau), Yara Shahidi, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michaela Coel, Jurnee Smollett and Juno Temple all wore very similar necklaces in this style. While each necklace is individually gorgeous, having so many alike pieces parading down the carpet, their power was definitely diminished. It just got repetitive and I wanted to see something different after about the third white necklace.
With so many white accents- it was refreshing to see a burst of color. Emeralds in their signature vivid green popped up adorning a few celebrities. Billy Porter wore an all-black ensemble with statement billowing sleeves, but he brought some serious sparkle to stand out against the black backdrop: multiple diamond rings and bracelets with the true stunner of a diamond and emerald necklace in a bib of layered petals and two amazing, swirled ear cuffs, all by Lorraine Schwartz. Kathryn Hahn also wore all black- her outfit was a jumpsuit with a comically large belt buckle on the front- I mean, this thing was like from belly button to ribs big, I don’t get that- but I did love her emerald and white diamond necklace by designer Briony Raymond, it was a row each of emeralds and diamonds with three pear cut emeralds dangling down.
Yellow sapphires (a personal favorite gemstone of mine- they’re just like little bits of solidified sunshine) were featured on two Tiffany & Co. ambassadors, Anya Taylor-Joy and Tracee Ellis Ross both wore sizable yellow sapphire rings set in yellow gold. Anya Taylor-Joy fully went for the yellow vibe in her canary yellow Dior gown, but I liked Tracee Ellis Ross’ Grecian red draped gown better, it seemed more unexpected and bolder to pair yellow with red than just doing yellow-on-yellow. I do like Anya Taylor-Joy, she’s a great actress and her make-up is always flawless… but I am really bored with seeing her in a solid color, spaghetti strap backless gown. I could probably make a graphic of her wearing every color and making a rainbow. She’s now wore this “uniform” for the Emmys - yellow, the Golden Globes - green, the Critics Choice Awards -purple, after her SNL performance -pink, the movie premiere of “Emma”- white, arriving to the Venice Film Festival -orange, the BAFTA awards, -black… please no more backless, spaghetti-strap dresses on red carpets.
Something fresh that I have never seen before was an unexpected accessory at the Emmys on the head of Moses Ingram, a breakout actress this year from her performance as Beth Harmon’s best friend in The Queen’s Gambit. She wore length after length of sterling silver chain into her long low ponytail. And then her stylist hand applied rhinestones into her baby hairs at the hairline. It really put some edge into her look, which was otherwise pretty classic with her green one shoulder gown. It was just fun… but with all the “fun” being on the back of her outfit, it didn’t read well when she was photographed from the front, which is what happens on the red carpet.
I love the moments of fun and creativity with jewelry playing into a look, and maybe I am not being fair to judge the Emmys harshly for being so traditional and homogenous on the red carpet- perhaps the Emmys would not appear so… dare I say, boring, if they weren’t foiled against the avant-garde Met Gala seven days previous. 2021 is a different red-carpet schedule than normal- the Met Gala is traditionally in May, so there’s customarily more a buffer between the Met and other red carpets.
With how the world has been lately, lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing; the fashion world has had to adjust. Fashion shows went virtual, red carpets were cancelled, movie premieres happened on tvs in our own living rooms. Now with red carpets returning, I guess me personally, I was hoping for the long absence of glamour to result in an explosion of fun once everyone was able to be let loose. That certainly happened at the Met Gala, it was epic and did not disappoint. But then one week later the Emmys come along and seem so boring, so typical, so pre-2020. In post 2020 I want EVERYTHING to be fun and bursting with creativity because honestly- shouldn’t stylists be making the most of every fashion moment? There’s no guarantee of a red carpet next week, next month, next year- don’t play it safe, don’t hold out for “the next time.” Go big, let’s aim to impress and surprise. I think everyone will have more fun.
That’s all for this episode of Tea and Gemstones. It was a little heavier on the Tea than gemstones haha but I think that’s the nature of red carpet commentary. If you disagree about anything I’ve said, or want to tell me what you think about the Met Gala and Emmys’ connect with Tea and Gemstones on Instagram or Twitter. Please see the show notes for a link to our blog for a transcript of this episode and the bibliography. Our show’s theme song is by Joesph McDade. Alright everyone, until next time, stay sparkly.
T&G Episode 004
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fasel, Marion. “The Best Jewelry at the 2021 Emmys | The Adventurine.” The Adventurine, theadventurine.com/culture/celebrity/the-best-jewelry-at-the-2021-emmys. Accessed 22 Sept. 2021.
Garner, Glenn. “Diane Kruger Debuts Her Gorgeous Engagement Ring from Norman Reedus at the 2021 Met Gala.” PEOPLE.Com, 14 Sept. 2021, people.com/style/met-gala-2021-diane-kruger-diamond-ring-norman-reedus-engaged.
Hevrdejs, By Judy. “Fashion and Award Shows Can Be Potent Combination.” Chicagotribune.Com, 30 Jan. 2019, www.chicagotribune.com/sns-grammys-fashion-story.html.
Holevas, Christina, and Amir la Sure. “The Best Jewelry From the Met Gala 2021.” W Magazine, 15 Sept. 2021, www.wmagazine.com/fashion/met-gala-best-jewelry-2021.
Liao, Marina. “Jennifer Lopez’s 2021 Met Gala Look Came Straight Out Of A Western Movie.” The Zoe Report, 14 Sept. 2021, www.thezoereport.com/culture/jennifer-lopez-2021-met-gala-look-ralph-lauren.
“The Best 2021 Emmys Jewelry *Nearly* Outshined The Red Carpet Gowns.” The Zoe Report, 20 Sept. 2021, www.thezoereport.com/culture/best-jewelry-emmys-2021.
Pak, Eudie. “10 Iconic Wild West Figures.” Biography, 30 Apr. 2020, www.biography.com/news/wild-west-figures.