Oscars Style: Light on Jewels, Heavy on Embellished Couture

By Jennifer Heebner

Posted on March 9, 2010

To the disappointment of many a jewelry fan, gown beading and overhead lights sparkled more than most of the jewelry at this year's Academy Awards. This is because of a noticeable dearth in the fine jewelry department. Instead, most stars' gowns featured metallic fabrics, beading, or other embellishments that seemingly minimized the need for heavy accessories; plus, some asymmetrical necklines, such as on Queen Latifa, thwarted stars' abilities to wear necklaces.

Many jewelry fans bemoaned the bare looks, especially on celebs like Jennifer Lopez and Amanda Seyfreid, whose sparkling strapless gowns were forced to shoulder the bulk of the embellishment duties since necklaces and bracelets were nonexistent (jewelry statements for both include compact earrings that hugged the ear, and one bracelet for Seyfreid).

Overall, two jewelry trends emerged from the night: oversize earrings and blackened platinum. The former helped carry the look of bare necklines, and the latter complemented couture details, such as black lace trim on Sarah Jessica Parker's Chanel Couture gown. Her accessory picks: blackened platinum and gold jewels from Fred Leighton, including a rose-cut diamond and platinum bracelet, a cognac diamond flexible bracelet in 18k gold, diamond bangles, and a sapphire Wave bracelet. Other estate pieces featured an inherently blackened hue, including 19th-century diamond cluster earrings and a diamond riviere necklace (wrapped around the wrist) and a 9.00 ct. t.w. old-mine-cut diamond ring.

Other stars who donned blackened platinum jewels include:

Nicole Richie in Lorraine Schwartz diamond stud earrings, an iridescent 110 cts. t.w. diamond cluster ring, and another diamond ring.

Faith Hill in 180 cts. t.w. black and colorless diamond bangles by Lorraine Schwartz.

Amanda Seyfried in 250 cts. t.w. brown, champagne, and mint diamond bracelets, a brown diamond ball ring, and diamond earrings, all by Lorraine Schwartz.

Meanwhile, even more stars donned large earrings to offset bare necks. Among them:

Rachel McAdams in natural multicolor diamond earrings and a diamond pinky ring by Lorraine Schwartz.

Cameron Diaz in Cartier diamond pave Trinity Circle earrings in white, yellow, and rose gold; a diamond and white gold ring from the Cartier Private Archive collection; princess- and round-cut diamond ring in white gold, also by Cartier.

Mariah Carey in 43 cts. t.w. rose-cut diamond hoops by Chopard, in addition to an oval-cut diamond bracelet by William Goldberg, a floral diamond cuff and stacked diamond and tennis bracelets by H.Stern, and a diamond flower brooch by Chopard.