The Best Diamond Jewelry in the History of the Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival has long been considered one of the most influential stages to showcase the world’s most magical natural diamond jewelry since its inception in 1946.
As the 2024 Cannes Film Festival kicks off, we have to discuss the most magnificent natural diamond jewelry that appears on the red carpet at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.
Since its early days in 1946, the film festival has taken over the resort town’s renowned Croisette. Each spring, a glamourous menagerie of international movie stars and supermodels heads to the south of France to grace the red carpet leading up to the steps to the convention center. The quintessential venue to showcase jaw-dropping diamonds, Cannes’ famously strict formal dress code always calls on couture creations and mega-watt gems and jewels.
Let me set the scene. Against the backdrop of the French Riviera, palm trees billow in the breeze, mobs of cameras flash, and the hustle and bustle of the red carpet reaches a fever pitch. Diamond chandelier earrings graze the shoulders of cinema’s most elite. Intricate bib-style necklaces cover countless décolletages in diamonds, and wrists are stacked to the nines in blinged-out bangles and bracelets. Headpieces could double as historic heirlooms borrowed from the royal vaults.
From Sophia Loren to Julia Roberts, we’re looking back on the most extraordinary natural diamond jewelry in the history of the Cannes Film Festival.
1955: Sophia Loren
During the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, Italian actress Sophia Loren arrived at Salon des Ambassadeurs for a reception during opening night in a white lace strapless ball gown by Italian “tailor of the stars” Emilio Schuberth. She teamed her ensemble with elegant opera gloves and a head-turning natural diamond statement necklace.
1957: Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor attended the 1957 Cannes Film Festival with her third husband, producer Mike Todd, who was promoting his film, Around the World in 80 Days. She, of course, donned large diamond chandelier earrings, a diamond brooch, and an antique Victorian 1880 diamond tiara with her romantically pleated chiffon gown. That same year, Taylor pulled out her famed tiara for the Golden Globe Awards and the 1957 Academy Awards as well. In her 2002 book, My Love Affair with Jewelry, the Hollywood icon wrote, “When Mike gave me this tiara, he said, ‘You’re my queen, and I think you should have a tiara.’” She continued, “It wasn’t fashionable to wear tiaras then, but I wore it anyway because he was my king.” Sadly, Todd passed away almost exactly a year later in a plane crash in New Mexico.
1987: Princess Diana
Princess Diana attended her first and only Cannes Film Festival in 1987, wearing a sky blue strapless gown with a matching neck scarf by Catherine Walker, inspired by Grace Kelly’s blue gown in the 1955 film To Catch a Thief. The royal accessorized with large aquamarine drop earrings, dangling from an intricate natural diamond cluster. A clear favorite of Diana’s, the Princess of Wales wore the baubles to a 1987 Banquet in Munich, a 1989 Moulin Rouge performance, during an official tour of Brazil in 1991, and more.
1997: Monica Bellucci
Monica Bellucci posed during the 1997 Cannes Film Festival wearing a floral Dolce & Gabbana Spring 1997 ensemble with a Cartier diamond necklace, large cluster diamond earrings, and a diamond and ruby bracelet.
1998: Carla Bruni
A longtime festival favorite, Carla Bruni has made a habit of knocking our socks off with dazzling natural diamond jewels at Cannes. From her years as one of the most iconic supermodels of the 1990s, throughout her tenure as the first lady of France, Bruni has established herself as a leading lady of the Croisette. In 1998, Bruni’s slinky draped brown jersey dress acted as a canvas for her substantial Chopard diamonds. Her diamond hoop earrings hid behind her brunette bob, while her diamond cocktail ring glistened as she shielded her eyes from the sunlight, but her diamond collar necklace was what stole all the attention.
2001: A Diamond is Forever
Slovakian Wonder Bra model Adriana Sklenaříková (formerly Karembeu) was called to anchor the center of the 12-model troupe for the “A Diamond Is Forever” photocall at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. Featuring over $25 million of diamond necklaces, the ladies posed on a red carpet along the shoreline in varying “A Diamond Is Forever” swimsuits and multicolored sarongs. Each necklace unique and extraordinary in its own right, the jewel photographed on the far right was also showcased during the Tasaki Pearl Jewelry show in Tokyo later that year. Dubbed “Sakura,” the necklace was valued at $1.67 million.
2002: IMAN
De Beers announced its partnership with legendary supermodel Iman at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The celebrate the union, Iman was decked out in the De Beers Millennium Star necklace – the world’s largest flawless pear-shaped diamond. The 203-carat stone is featured on a thorny platinum neckpiece pave-set with 2,000 fine round diamonds and was even the target of “the world’s greatest robbery attempt” at the London Millennium Dome in 2000.
Iman wore the jewel to the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala at Cannes, co-sponsored by De Beers. There, she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Sharon Stone, Elton John, and Elizabeth Taylor, who all posed in a joking manner, trying to steal the huge diamond off of Iman’s neck.
2003: IMAN
When De Beers and Iman announced their partnership in 2002, Iman posed for a photocall, wearing an Aubergine woven leather choker, studded with 15 princess-cut diamonds, totaling over 7.5 carats with a matching leather cuff bracelet embellished with 9 princess-cut diamonds. There, she displayed De Beers’ “first diamond necklace” valued at over $100,000 at the time. The floral diamond jewels were auctioned off at the Cinema Against AIDS gala to benefit amfAR.
The following year, Iman wore an uber-exaggerated version of De Beers’ “first diamond necklace” at the 2003 amfAR gala. Walking the red carpet in a slinky fuchsia Dior gown, Iman wore an elaborate wildflower couture neckpiece that covered her chest and extended down her back, featuring over 500 diamonds at 56 carats. She paired her bespoke necklace with a $2 million 5.5-carat emerald-cut rare pinkish-orange diamond ring, also from De Beers.
2004: Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell attended the festival in 2004, walking the red carpet for the premiere of The Ladykillers, before attending the De Grisogono Party at the VIP Club with the Swiss brand’s owner Fawaz Gruosi. She wore a white gown with a De Grisogono necklace. Fuchsia beads snaked around her neck with a solitaire oval-shaped diamond dangling at the end.
2004: Natalia Vodianova
Russian model Natalia Vodianova attended the Shrek 2 premiere at Cannes in 2004, wearing an ivory silk slip dress by Calvin Klein with a massive solitaire pear-shaped diamond from Chopard.
2007: Claudia Schiffer
In 2007, German supermodel Claudia Schiffer took to the Cannes red carpet in a navy blue tulle pleated mermaid gown with the perfect plunging neckline to show off her swirling geometric natural diamond necklace.
2008: Eva Herzigová
Model Eva Herzigová wore a draped black lace gown by Dior to Cannes in 2008 with a huge bib-style diamond De Beers necklace that covered her whole décolletage.
2011: Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda wore a natural diamond Chopard necklace with a 160-carat cushion-cut blue sapphire on the Croisette in 2011, previously worn by Isabelle Huppert at Cannes in 2009 as well as Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, the artistic director and co-president of Chopard.
2013: Cara Delevingne
Cara Delevingne attended The Great Gatsby premiere during the 2013 Opening Ceremony looking as glamourous as ever. The model and actress wore a Burberry Prorsum lace gown with a suite of Chopard jewels. Delevingne chose a floral diamond cocktail ring with chandelier earrings and a bedazzled diamond necklace.
The next day, ironically during the premiere of Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, the items were stolen from the room of a Chopard employee at the Hotel Novotel. The thief made it out with over $1.3 million worth of jewels.
2014: Blake Lively
Blake Lively channeled Old Hollywood glamour in 2014, wearing a black-and-white Gucci Première silk crepe ball gown with incredible diamonds from Lorraine Schwartz including large circular diamond studs, and two strands of diamonds across her neck. The jewels totaled over 180 carats of diamonds.
2015: Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller walked the red carpet in 2015 wearing a black star-embellished caped Sonia Rykiel gown, topped off with a dramatic Bulgari high jewelry diamond choker.
2015: Jane Fonda
For the 2015 festival, during the premiere of Youth, Jane Fonda wore a dramatic black Schiaparelli Couture gown with an equally dramatic diamond and ruby Cartier Reine Makéda necklace from the jeweler’s Royal collection.
2017: Rihanna
All eyes were on Rihanna in 2017 when she walked the red carpet in a theatrical white Christian Dior gown, with ginormous jeweled rings including a pear-shaped diamond, diamond and emerald earrings and most importantly, a diamond floral bracelet that wrapped around her wrist. The arm-candy stemmed from her “Rihanna Loves Chopard” Haute Joaillerie collaboration, co-designed with Chopard Co-President Caroline Scheufele.
2018: Romee Strijd
Victoria’s Secret angel Romee Strijd twirled around the 2018 red carpet in a custom Alberta Ferretti metallic blue gown and a matching De Grisogono high jewelry one-of-a-kind necklace that stole the show. The jewel featured blue sapphires that coiled around her neck and turned into white diamonds. Dangling from the end was a 42.53-carat pear-cut diamond.
2019: Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez made her Cannes debut in 2019, wearing a white satin Louis Vuitton two-piece ensemble and Bulgari ‘Dancing Diamonds’ Cinemagia High Jewelry collection, including diamond stud earrings, a diamond cocktail ring, and a geometric statement necklace.
2022: Deepika Padukone
Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone was a lady in red at the 2022 film fest, wearing a silk crimson Louis Vuitton plunging gown highlighting her epic Cartier High Jewelry diamond necklace featuring a major oval-shaped natural diamond dangling from its end.
2022: Lori Harvey
A newcomer to Cannes, Lori Harvey appeared as a real-life Disney princess, wearing a lemon-yellow Alexandre Vauthier ballgown teamed with over 100 carats of diamond jewelry from Messika including stacked rings, diamond drop earrings, and a statement collar necklace.
2022: Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts set the bar high when she arrived in Cannes wearing a diamond and emerald Chopard necklace in 2016. In 2022, when Roberts was tasked with presenting the Trophée Chopard to a rising young actor and actress, she amped up her Louis Vuitton suit ensemble with a Chopard necklace, featuring a rare yellow diamond weighing in at over 100 carats, surrounded by pear and cushion-shaped diamonds totaling over 54 carats.
2022: Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway stepped onto the red carpet at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival to celebrate the premiere of her film Armageddon Time, wearing a stunning sapphire and natural diamond statement necklace. Wearing a classic white sequin Armani Privé column gown, Hathaway went viral for her Buglari Mediterranean Reverie necklace from the Eden The Garden of Wonders high jewelry collection, featuring intricately displayed white natural diamonds and a 107-carat royal blue cushion-cut Sri Lankan sapphire center stone.
According to the brand, the piece was inspired by, “Grotta Azzurra in Capri — its magical blue hues enchanting all who witness it and paying tribute to the splendors of the world around us.”
2023: Ashley Graham
Ashley Graham arrived in her very best Cannes Film Festival jewelry in 2023, wearing elaborate Chopard diamond High Jewelry. She stacked floral studs, diamond hoop earrings, and layered necklaces with her voluminous Dolce & Gabbana gown.
2024 Cannes Film Festival
Meryl Streep is slated to receive the Honorary Palme d’Or on opening night at this year’s festival.
Barbie auteur Greta Gerwig will serve as jury president and will be a competition jury including Killers of the Flower Moon actress Lily Gladstone, Casino Royale star Eva Green, Lupin actor Omar Sy, Ebru Ceylan, directors Nadine Labaki, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, and more.
The Official Selection for the 77th Cannes Film Festival will include 19 films that will premiere in Competition. Sebastian Stan will portray a young Donald Trump in Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice. Hot off his Saltburn praise, Barry Keoghan will star in Andrea Arnold’s Bird, while Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana will appear in the forthcoming film Emilia Perez.
Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos will release his latest collaboration with Emma Stone, entitled Kinds of Kindness. Boasting a star-studded cast, the project will surely lure its A-list troupe, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, and Hunter Schafer onto the red carpet.
Hot-ticket title, Megalopolis will screen in competition on the evening of Friday, May 17 with a gala premiere slot at the Palais. From legendary director and two-time Palme d’Or winner Francis Ford Coppola, the highly anticipated cinematic epic gathers Nathalie Emmanuel, Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, and more.
George Miller’s Mad Max (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) will premiere out of competition, and we can only hope to see Anya Taylor-Joy twinkling down the red carpet in some exciting Tiffany & Co. diamond jewels.
The Cannes Film Festival will run from May 14-25.
