How high jewellery made Hollywood sparkle: Cartier’s legendary Toussaint necklace drove the plot of Ocean’s 8 while Tiffany & Co. cuffs were key to Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman 1984 look
- In the upcoming adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, Gal Gadot dons a necklace previously worn by Audrey Hepburn in a Breakfast at Tiffany’s shoot
- Elton John is a long-time fan of Chopard – so naturally Taron Egerton, who portrayed him in biopic Rocketman, was bedecked in pieces by the luxury brand
Whether fictional or real, each is the subject of a movie – the 2013 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Wonder Woman 1984 and Rocketman – where jewellers worked with custom designers, and sometimes even the director, to bring authenticity to the characters.
In Wonder Woman 1984, Gadot’s character is seen wearing Tiffany & Co.’s Elsa Peretti Bone cuff bracelet, a contemporary nod to the silver cuffs on Wonder Woman’s wrists. In films such as The Great Gatsby (2013) and Rocketman (2019), precious gems set the tone and recreate the feel of a certain era, lending authenticity to the scenes and characters, while in dramas like 2018’s Ocean’s 8 and the upcoming Death on the Nile – each with a dazzling ensemble cast – it is the jewellery that grabs the spotlight.
This synergy between star power and marketing has led to numerous famous partnerships between filmmakers and jewellers in the quest to create believable worlds on the silver screen. Take the 1962 classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s: it catapulted luxury jewellery brand Tiffany & Co. to overnight popularity (and made Audrey Hepburn’s character, Holly Golightly, an icon for the ages).
Costume and set designers are the key players when it comes to authentically depicting personalities in biopics. In Rocketman, actor Taron Egerton’s portrayal of Elton John – feather boa and all – came to life thanks to the collaboration between costume designer Julia Day and Chopard’s co-president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele.
