A Remarkable Ribbon Brooch on the Red Carpet in Cannes

Brazilian model Isabeli Fontana walked the red carpet at the Palais des Festivals on Saturday in Cannes ahead of the festival’s closing ceremony and screening of this year’s final film, Disney and Pixar’s new animated comedy, Elemental.

For her red carpet appearance, Fontana and stylist Jonathan Huguet selected a striking black gown made of snakeskin-patterned latex made by Arthur Avellano.

But it was Fontana’s jeweled accessory that caught everyone’s eyes on the red carpet.

The brooch—if we can call it merely that—was made by the independent Chinese fine jewelry artist and designer Elsa Jin.

The Fireworks Brooch, which has a floral and ribbon design, is set with more than 8,000 diamonds and 1,400 rubies. Two more large, striking gemstones are also set in the jewel: a bright blue sapphire and a sea-green paraiba tourmaline.

The event was the red carpet debut of the ornament, which was pinned to Fontana’s shoulder.

Here’s a side view of the piece from the red carpet.

Elsa Jin’s pieces have incredible movement and dimensionality in their design. I love the way that this ornament appears to drape casually and effortlessly over Fontana’s shoulder, like an old-fashioned floral corsage.

This wasn’t the first time that Fontana and Jin have collaborated for a red carpet moment. Last year, Fontana also wore an Elsa Jin brooch for the closing ceremony at Cannes: a diamond and emerald wing brooch from Jin’s LIFE series.

The LIFE series is made up of four large wing brooches. On her website, Jin notes that the pieces were designed to reflect “today’s suffering, protection, struggle and freedom.” Another brooch from the series, this time with an aquamarine center stone, was also worn last year at Cannes by Lara Gautier.

Fontana also wore a third brooch from the series, with a padparadscha sapphire set in the center of the wings, at the Venice Film Festival in August 2022.

And the fourth brooch from the series, with a gorgeous garnet in the center of the diamond and titanium wings, appeared on Isabelle Huppert at the Rome Film Festival in October 2022.

For those of you, like me, who love seeing men wear substantial jewels on red carpets as well, here’s a look at Adrien Brody wearing one of Jin’s creations at the Berlin Film Festival in February. The diamond and pearl brooch features a design inspired by bamboo.