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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Met Gala Jewels 2016

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Bee Shaffer attends the 2016 Met Gala (Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
It’s that time of year again: celebrities (and a royal!) have gathered in New York for the Met Gala, the annual fundraising benefit and ball held at the opening of the annual exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Each year’s gala and exhibition has a theme; this year, it was “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.” Here’s a look at some of the most interesting jewels on display…

Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
First off: among all of the celebrities from the world of fashion and film, there was a real-life queen in attendance at this year’s gala. Here’s Queen Rania of Jordan, looking elegant as always, arriving at the ball. Along with her glittering earrings, she appears to be wearing a jeweled hair ornament.

Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Also there: Charlotte Casiraghi! As per usual, she kept her jewelry to a minimum, but we did get a glimpse of a glittering ring and a couple of bangle bracelets.

Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue, wore a diamond floral necklace that definitely shouts “antique” to me. I believe it’s the same necklace she wore to an Oscars party in 2015. 
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Anna’s daughter, Bee Shaffer, wore a glittering headband with girandole earrings that also look like antiques.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
British model Poppy Delevingne basically glittered in head-to-toe jewelry.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
I really, really like the glamorous, modern, bejeweled earrings worn by Wendi Deng Murdoch.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Chinese model Fei Fei Sun wore a shimmering pair of diamond pendant earrings.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Rose Byrne’s necklace definitely played on the technology theme — it looks downright scientific.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Saoirse Ronan accessorized in a major way, pinning a brooch made of rubies, pink diamonds, and white diamonds to the hip of her gown.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Here’s a better look at the brooch, which was reportedly made by Anna Hu.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Model Lara Stone wore diamond pendant earrings with major wattage by Bulgari.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
If you ask me, Uma Thurman nearly stole the entire show in this vintage Cartier peacock brooch.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Here’s a closer look at the brooch. According to Cartier, the jewel is packed with more than 83 carats of diamonds.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Sarah Jessica Parker wore a fabulous necklace from Fred Leighton; the firm describes it as a “rivière with an antique agate and turquoise cameo pendant.”
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Kate Bosworth was half modern glam, half ancient warrior in a dazzling Dolce and Gabbana gown with a coordinating headpiece.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Anna Hu also provided a gorgeous ring and earrings for actress Ellie Bamber.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Nicole Kidman, bless her Australian heart, wore an honest-to-goodness button tiara to the gala.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Model Hannah Davis wore a shoulder-brushing pair of diamond and pearl pendant earrings.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Actress Allison Williams contrasted classic diamond and pearl brooches in her hair with a pair of ultra-modern pendant earrings.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Fashion designer Tory Burch also went for contrast, wearing a classic riviere set with pink stones over a necklace with a chunky modern pendant.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Katy Perry was her usual full-throttle fashion self; her gold jewelry was nearly indistinguishable from the embellishment on her Prada gown. (Also — she has a Tamagotchi clipped to her belt. Remember those???)
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Katie Holmes wore a classic diamond Cartier necklace.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Diamond pendant earrings were a lovely contrast with Jessica Chastain’s royal blue gown.
Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
Madonna, always just Madonna, wore a major pendant necklace as a headpiece (and told an interviewer that her favorite part of the Met Gala was “the breadsticks,” ha!).
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Zoey Deutch (daughter of actress Lea Thompson) wore amazing, elaborate jewels, including a jewel-studded headpiece. The look is by Dolce and Gabbana.
Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
And, last but of course not least: Beyonce. She kept her jewelry fairly minimal, but…
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
…get a load of these Lorraine Schwartz rings! Gorgeous!


Which jewels from this year’s Met Ball were your favorites?



Kate Wearing Borrowed Jewels?

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The Duchess of Cambridge wears Monica Vinader’s Riva necklace and earrings, 2014 (Photo: Stefan Wermuth – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Borrowing jewelry from companies is a common practice among celebrity stylists — almost 100% of the jewelry that you see worn on red carpets these days was borrowed and will later be returned. And according to one London jewelry designer, the Duchess of Cambridge has jumped on the borrowed-jewels train, too.

Photo: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

In an interview with the Daily Mail‘s Kerry Potter, Monica Vinader reveals that the brand’s diamond necklace and earrings, worn by Kate at a photography awards ceremony at the Natural History Museum in London in 2014, were quietly sent to Kate’s team by the company’s PR reps. She notes, “I knew nothing about it as my press team had lent them to her people and they’d told them to tell no one else in the company.”

Photo: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

We don’t know whether Kate did subsequently purchase the set — Vinader only reveals that she was “thrilled” when she learned that Kate wore her pieces. But Kate hasn’t worn the Riva earrings or necklace in public since. (And the earrings would have fit right in with the jewelry aesthetic of last month’s tour of India.) Whether or not Kate acquired these pieces for her collection, the loan was a great business move for Vinader, who sold tons of similar pieces after Kate was photographed wearing them.

Photo: ARTHUR EDWARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Before anyone suggests that Kate’s doing something unprecedented, it’s important to note that royals have been wearing (and returning) borrowed jewels for decades. Princess Grace of Monaco famously wore a borrowed ruby tiara from Van Cleef and Arpels at Versailles in the ’70s; she also wore a borrowed diamond tiara from the firm which has since been worn in movies. Queen Rania of Jordan has borrowed, worn, and returned jewelry from firms like Boucheron. Crown Princess Mary’s Midnight Parure is on a long-term exclusive loan from Ole Lynggaard. And even Princess Diana wore borrowed jewels from companies like Collingwood and Garrard.

How do you feel about royals wearing borrowed jewels?