The Jewelry Trend that Defined This Awards Season

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Thoughts on jewelry and culture strung together by Stellene Volandes.

On Sunday, the final day of Milan Fashion Week, we went to the Giorgio Armani show in the morning, had lunch with friends at Bice in the afternoon (veal Milanese for me, that creamy telefono pasta and the broccoli for the table) and then, as many headed to Paris, I took advantage of the evening and bought a ticket to Eugene Onegin at La Scala. I felt like Callas. Then, I went back to my room at the Bulgari Hotel (my place in Milan for almost 20 years), ordered a glass of champagne, opened a bag of potato chips from the mini bar, and watched the Oscars dubbed in Italian. Ciao Mikey! But now, for the jewelry at hand.

Ask About the Jewels

Jewelry often doesn't get the same attention on the red carpet. That's where I come in.

Now that it is over we know for sure that this red carpet season has been defined by icons and archives. There were excellent examples of Cartier Panthères (see: Zoe Saldaña at the Oscars) and Bulgari Serpenti (gorgeous Monica Barbaro at the SAG Awards) and Tiffany Bird on a Rock (J Balvin at the Grammys), but the archival moments were what really excited me—and my fellow jewelry people. Why do we get so worked up about anything old? "Seeing these treasures coming out of hiding, it just makes me happy," said one fellow jewelry obsessive. There is that. And certainly the emphasis in the luxury world on patrimony and heritage explains this new effort to remind us of each house's history, but the added benefit is the reminder that jewelry is always a reflection of the time in which it was made—and it also stands the test of time.

I'm thrilled that Colman Domingo's yellow gold Boucheron bracelet from 1948 at the Oscars and Jeremy Allen White's Tiffany brooch at the SAGs from the same era allowed me to talk about the dominance of yellow gold during these years—because platinum was restricted to wartime use. I loved that Mikey Madison's Edwardian Tiffany necklace (circa 1910) deepened everyone's understanding of how technology (in this case advancements in heated torches) impacts jewelry design. New machines allowed platinum to be shaped in ways it had never before and so we got the openwork and lace-like design of the Edwardian era. Changes in women's fashion also influenced the lightness and length of necklaces. Seeing her win in a necklace from 1910 that looked like that sharpened an understanding of Art Deco, the immensely popular period that followed. To see the delicate curves of the jewelry that came before it makes you understand how radical the geometry of Art Deco must have been.

If I had to choose a favorite of this entire season? I think it would be Lady Gaga's Grammys necklace, Tiffany, very, very early 1900s, created in the studio of Louis Comfort Tiffany (one of the wildest minds in design), by one of the many women who worked there, Meta Overbeck. Her sketchbook can still be seen at the Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park Florida (field trip?). I loved that necklace because of the stories it can tell about a chapter of American history but also because it hadn't been seen in ages, is over a century old, and can come out of the vault and on to the red carpet and look perfectly new. That's the thing about jewelry. And another reason these archival moments are so important. They remind us of jewelry's central power: It remains.

The Best I Have Seen This Month

Before Milan, I went to visit my old friend Giorgio Pace in St. Moritz, where he had organized his annual art and design fair, Nomad Circle, in the old clinic in town. (Gunter Sachs recuperated from a ski accident here and someone told me he insisted his room be redecorated in a chalet style.) Nomad was great and I'm so happy I went. It felt intimate and there were wow moments but also plenty of discovery and just enough moments where you actually thought you might be able to buy something. I saw my friend Antonia Miletto, where she exhibited her gorgeous jewelry of wood and gemstones and also some new pieces of furniture and lighting. There was also Sofia Zevi, who we wrote about in our story on the Milan Renaissance. After Nomad, I stopped into the Cartier boutique on the main boulevard to meet the legendary Kathy Dobers, who showed me my first Cartier giraffe bangle—like a Panthère, but not. Now all I want is a Cartier giraffe. A few stores down is the divine antique and vintage jewelry store run by Rebecca Ardessi, where the pieces might as well be a history class. Ardessi placed diamond rivières from the 18th to the 20th centuries out on a tray and we geeked out on the subtle differences in the stone cutting and the settings and how cultural shifts were the cause of each. I also fell in love with blue ceramic Art Deco flower brooches and a killer Cartier set from the 1950s of citrine beads, turquoise, and diamonds. It was voluptuous in the way pieces from that decade often are—what Hollywood dreams are made of. I wish more jewelers today experimented so wildly in mixing stones and cuts.

Portrait Cuts

Those moments where art meets jewelry.

This is a PSA. This year marks the centennial of the 1925 Paris fair that gave Art Deco its name—so prepare for multiple exhibits and reminders. I planned my own Art Deco path in Milan one morning. I started at Pennisi, where the wonderful owner pulled a tomb-like box out of the vault. It was from 1923, a year after Howard Carter discovered King Tut's tomb, and it had the iconography that would become known as Art Deco Egyptian Revival. Inside was an intricately carved gold and diamond bracelet that blew my mind. On the back an entire narrative in English and Portuguese. He then brought out examples of French Art Deco pieces and then American. The differences were fascinating to observe (see above). I then walked down Manzoni, through the Galleria, stopped for a doppio macchiato at Cracco, and then went to Palazzo Reale where an Art Deco show just opened (see below; it's on through June). It was excellent and design-focused—lots of gorgeous Gio Ponti, of course—but there, too, the differences in Art Deco regionally, and then the evolution of it into Streamline Moderne, were emphasized and handled extremely well. I think this year will give us all the opportunity to realize how complex and varied Art Deco truly is. The exhibit also features an Art Deco map of Milan buildings. I plan to plot that out when I'm back in this city for Salone in April. (Also, don't miss the Leonor Fini retrospective, a brilliant and bold character and Surrealist. Up through June as well.)

A Perfect NYC Night

I like to say this is why we live here, because otherwise, even I have to admit it can get hard. My plans this month:

Twyla Tharp Dance will be at City Center from March 12-16 and there will be two New York premieres to celebrate this icon's 60th anniversary. I love to go to anything at City Center because it's part of what I like to call my Dinner and a Show series of the city. There are certain cultural institutions that just pair so well with a restaurant nearby. The Public and Indochine. Lincoln Center and P.J. Clarke's. The Met and Nectar Diner. And anything at City Center means either dinner before at Milos or at Souvlaki GR (the place all those T&C Greek lunches come from). Also always snacks for intermission from Myzel's chocolates across the street.

Sticks & Stones

How a jewelry person organizes the random thoughts in her head.

I wrote about the enduring influence of Tina Chow's jewelry for T&C and why it's so hard to find at auction. My friend who owns DK Farnum immediately sent me a picture of a gorgeous pair of amethyst Tina Chow earrings she has currently for sale. You should follow her on Instagram.
The mystery of Timothée Chalamet's Cartier bracelets at the Oscars. I had never seen them before either and was told they were Cartier creations but was given no other information except that details will be revealed soon. They looked like a new iteration of the Love bracelet, perhaps articulated. This is a developing story.
Kieran Culkin is now Academy Award Winner Kieran Culkin. I imagine they updated the Glengarry Glen Ross playbill? It begins performances March 10. Our friend Scott Pask did the sets and costumes. And I can't wait for everyone to start saying, "Always be closing."
Aerin Lauder's new book, Living With Flowers, is as beautiful as you might expect. You will want flowers everywhere—bar, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen—after you read it. And why not. You deserve it.
The fried dough with powdered sugar Carnevale snack they call Chiacchiere is my weakness. I brought home a box from Cova on Montenapoleone but if you know any place that makes them here let me know ASAP.