Many of the looks on this year’s Met Gala red carpet were monochrome affairs, with most guests opting for black-and-white designs with a profusion of pearls in honor of the late Karl Lagerfeld. Certain A-listers, however, amped up the sparkle—and color—via fine jewelry. Step forward Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who accessorized her sweeping Valentino gown with a necklace featuring the Bulgari Luna Blue Diamond.
Conceived as an homage to Bulgari’s hometown of Rome, the necklace’s design is informed by the bay laurel wreaths worn by Roman emperors, with leaflike diamonds set in gold, but the incredibly rare 11.6-carat Laguna is more likely to call to mind Titanic than Titus. Among the rarest colors for a diamond, the blue stone was first mounted by Bulgari as a ring for a private collector in 1970. In lieu of being cast into the Atlantic post-Met (God forbid), the gem will go under the hammer as part of Sotheby’s Luxury Week in Geneva later this month, with bids starting at a cool $25 million.
Dua Lipa, meanwhile, paired her archival bridal look—originally worn by Claudia Schiffer on the autumn-winter 1992 Chanel runway—with Tiffany & Co.’s more than 100-carat Legendary diamond, cut to resemble the Tiffany diamond, famously worn by Audrey Hepburn, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga.
Lipa, however, is the first and only star to have had the honor of wearing the Legendary stone, set in Tiffany & Co.’s Lucida Star necklace, which includes 100 additional carats of diamonds. Hard to imagine a better place for a diamond to make its debut than the Met Gala.
This post was originally published on British
