Natural Diamond Jewels Shine as Bright as the Stars at the 2020 SAG Awards

Nothing makes a person look and feel more beautiful and confident than wearing real and rare natural diamonds. At the 2020 SAG Awards, actors of all ages and career stages sparkled in an array of timeless, surprising and fashion-forward diamond jewelry.

In honor of the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards, Only Natural Diamonds spoke with Nan Summerfield, G.G., Senior Vice President and Director of California operations for DOYLE, a New York-based, family-owned, heritage auction house that has handled diamond-dusted jewelry owned by Hollywood legends like Cary Grant. Summerfield says, “Natural diamonds are the oldest and most unique treasures born of Mother Earth. Formed deep in the ground three billion years ago, these ancient treasures are the hardest gem known to exist. Embodying rare transparency and brilliance.” She continues, “no other natural gemstone on earth comes close to radiating the powerful energy and life of a real and rare diamond.”

In the timeless diamond department, the Cartier natural diamond line necklace and stud earrings, worn by fifteen-year-old Millie Bobby Brown, dazzled at center stage. Brown, along with her fellow cast members of the Netflix series Stranger Things, was a nominee for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Echoing the streamlined, scintillating silhouette of her necklace, Brown’s natural diamond earrings emphasized the sharp tailoring of her all-white, Louis Vuitton long sleeve, belted coat dress worn over tailored matching trousers.

Other actors who wore spectacular natural diamonds included Cynthia Erivo, whose serpentine Roberto Coin jewel encircled her neck and slithered down her back for several inches to great glistening effect. Nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her turn as abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet, Erivo wore a charming array of diamond earrings on each of her festive ears. Lighting up the night in diamonds and a strapless red and hot pink custom Schiaparelli gown, replete with a four-foot long train, Erivo made one of the most arresting entrances of the evening. Jewels like hers demonstrate how, “A diamond’s powerful energy, light and beauty outshines all other gems,” as Summerfield explains.

At the fashion-forward edge of the style spectrum, Dior-clad 44-year-old Charlize Theron wore Tiffany & Co. diamond earrings and ignited what could be 2020’s most daring diamond jewelry trend. Intriguingly, Theron’s diamond hair affair featured a Tiffany bracelet twinkling like starlight right down her center-parted blonde pixie cut. Theron was up for two SAG Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for Bombshell.

Also wearing natural diamonds in her hair was 39-year-old Michelle Williams, who received the Best Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series award for her role as dancer Gwen Verdon in FX’s series Fosse/Verdon. Clad in a classic black crepe Louis Vuitton gown, Williams accessorized with a natural diamond, floral motif barrette by Forevermark that intensified the beauty of her radiant complexion and blonde hair.

Shining in a chic and minimalist, icy white gown and pendulous, antique natural diamond earrings, sourced from the venerable New York estate jeweler Fred Leighton, The Morning Show star Jennifer Aniston nabbed the statuette for Best Female Actor in a Television Drama Series. The intricate ear-rings (circa 1915) lit up Aniston’s face with radiant, rose-cut stones.

Created by Forevermark and retailing at US $3.5 million, the evening’s most spectacular natural diamond earrings were worn by Lupita Nyong’o, who was nominated for Best Actress in a film for her role in Us. “The Forevermark diamond earrings worn by Lupita are so simple and impactful,” observes red carpet jewelry stylist Andrew Nguyen, founder and CEO of FELT Worldwide. “Their beautiful kinetic movement makes them swing and sway and refract light in a magical way.”

With her matching Harry Winston diamond earrings and natural diamond bib necklace, Jennifer Lopez, a Best Actress nominee for her role in the film Hustlers, presented a highly coordinated, classically formal natural diamond look that harked back to Hollywood’s golden era. (Famously, Marilyn Monroe sang sexily about Harry Winston’s diamonds in the classic Hollywood film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. A U.S. jeweler renowned for his diamond savvy and generosity, Winston donated the legendarily beautiful and huge Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958 after owning it for a decade.)

Other actors wearing Harry Winston to dramatic effect on the SAG Awards silver carpet included Jennifer Garner, who glittered in Winston’s natural diamond bracelet and earrings. Clad in a plunging black and white Miu Miu gown, Lili Reinhart sported enchanting natural diamond drop earrings from Harry Winston that illuminated her face with subtle glints.

According to Nguyen, the evening’s leading diamond jewelry trends included “diamond hair jewelry, the return of classic diamond line necklaces, and a Renaissance of mid-20th century style matching diamond earrings and necklaces.” Noting that the SAG Awards are often full of “surprising jewelry and fashion choices because the event is slightly less formally driven than the Academy Awards,” Nguyen continues, “We saw some surprises from nominees like Lisa Edelstein, who wore some swinging diamond and sapphire Cloud 9 earrings by Gumuchian. It was wonderful to see how varied and well-curated the different natural diamond designs were this year.”