The Best Films For Jewellery Lovers

Sofia Coppola’s 2006 remake of Marie Antoinette features $4 million worth of genuine Fred Leighton diamonds sprinkled over the various members of the royal French household. The best and boldest pieces, naturally, were reserved for Kirsten Dunst in the titular role, but the rest of her court sparkles just as brightly in paste jewels, conceived by the film’s Oscar-winning costume designer Milena Canonero. Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

As the jeweller par excellence to the real-life Daisy Buchanans of the 1920s (as well as to F Scott Fitzgerald himself), Tiffany & Co was a fitting choice to open its archives for the 2013 interpretation of The Great Gatsby. Working with the production designer Catherine Martin, the brand created some spectacular jewels for the film, including the diamond and pearl ‘Savoy’ headband that Daisy (played by Carey Mulligan) wears to Jay Gatsby’s party. It was inspired by a vintage design and thought to be worth over £500,000. Similarly, Daisy’s ornate bracelets were brought to life by Tiffany’s design team from references to traditional Indian hand jewels and crafted out of real gems to ensure the character looked suitably dazzling. Photo: Matt Hart / Warner Brothers

The 1963 behemoth Cleopatra had a record-breaking budget of $44 million, including almost $200,000 for Elizabeth Taylor’s costume alone. To accompany every single one of her 65 wardrobe changes, the jeweller Joseff Of Hollywood created a treasure trove of opulent gold-plated cuffs, belts, necklaces and headdresses, imbuing the whole production with a glittering aura that still takes your breath away almost 60 years later. And it’s not just the on-screen jewels that continue to capture our imagination. Behind the scenes, Cleopatra’s biggest stars, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, began an intense love affair that resulted in some truly lavish jewellery purchases. Both frequented Bulgari’s flagship boutique during filming in Rome and Burton showered his lover with a host of Bulgari gems during their relationship, including an emerald engagement ring, an enormous emerald necklace (which she wore to their wedding) and a flamboyant sautoir with a 65-carat cabochon-cut sapphire pendant, bought for Taylor’s 40th birthday. Indeed, as Burton himself once joked, “I introduced Liz to beer. She introduced me to Bulgari.” Photo: Silver Screen Collection

Hitchcock’s polished thriller is laced with gemstones (albeit stolen ones) as its plot revolves around a reformed jewel thief, played by Cary Grant. Pursuing him is Grace Kelly’s character, an American heiress named Frances, who dons a shimmering necklace in one scene in order to tempt Grant into stealing it. “Diamonds,” she purrs, as fireworks explode in the background, “[are] the only thing in the world you can’t resist.” It’s seductive stuff and definitely worth a re-watch on a dreary afternoon, when all you crave is a little bit of sparkle. Photo: Courtesy of Warner Brothers

This is another film about high-stakes jewel thievery, but the target in Ocean’s 8 is an enormous necklace called the ‘Toussaint’, worn by Anne Hathaway’s character to the annual Met Gala and named for Cartier’s legendary creative director Jeanne Toussaint. While the necklace in the film isn’t real (it’s made of zirconium oxide stones mounted in white gold), it was created in Cartier’s own Parisian atelier, so it does look authentically fabulous. Its design was actually inspired by a vintage Cartier necklace that was created in 1931 for the Maharajah of Nawangar and included a 12-carat olive green diamond, a 136.25-carat blue-white diamond and a handful of large pink diamonds nestled among cascades of white diamonds. Photo: Courtesy of Warner Brothers

Marilyn Monroe may have crooned about diamonds being “a girl's best friend” in this memorable movie, but the glittering gewgaws she sported with her pink satin gown were not actually the real deal. However, the actress did get to wear a very real, very ancient gemstone in her publicity shots for the film – the so-called ‘Moon of Baroda’. The 24-carat, canary-coloured diamond was believed to have been discovered in the Golconda mines of India and was owned by the Maharajas of Baroda who – legend has it – gifted it to Marie Antoinette’s mother, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. It was sold at auction in 2018 for $1.3 million (about £1.05 million). Photo: Getty

When it comes to Audrey Hepburn films, jewellery buffs tend to celebrate the pieces the star wore in Breakfast At Tiffany’s,but we believe the on-screen adornments in My Fair Lady are just as dazzling. The extraordinary collier and hair jewels that Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle wears to the embassy ball (her final test for Professor Higgins) were the work of Joseff of Hollywood, the costume jeweller who embellished hundreds of American films between the 1930s and 1950s. True to the film’s Edwardian setting, the jewels were produced in the intricate ‘garland’ style of the Belle Époque, which took inspiration from ribbons, lace and botanical wreaths. They were the perfect accompaniment for Doolittle’s sequin-encrusted gown, designed by Cecil Beaton, who went on to win two Oscars for the film’s costumes and set design. Photo: Archive Photos

As the face of Chanel, Keira Knightley has privileged access to a plethora of beautiful baubles and her star turn in Joe Wright’s 2012 adaptation of Anna Karenina was certainly no exception. For her role as the exiled Russian aristocrat, Knightley was bedecked in a galaxy of the house’s gemstones (£1.25 million worth, to be precise), including an opulent pearl sautoir and a diamond necklace with a camellia motif. Photo: Courtesy of Universal Pictures