Cartier has had its famed jewellery and diamonds in many films throughout their decades as a leading high jewellery house. Their pieces have been lent to movies, stars have worn their own Cartier jewels they couldn’t bear to part with on-screen, and even designed fake jewels to create that mystical movie magic.
Creating a character, means designing their personality, their choices and of course their taste. Cartier has used their jewellery pieces to elevate movie characters for decades. Iconic and memorable characters with exquisite taste.
The Great Gatsby Sautoir
In the 1974 film The Great Gatsby, Mia Farrow’s character Daisy Buchanan styled the high society of the roaring twenties dripping in Cartier Art Deco pieces. Several were lent to the film, including an 86.71 carat carved emerald and pearl sautoir. Sourced from Cartier’s collection, the 1925 piece encompasses the extravagant lifestyle of Daisy and her high society.
Costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge, received the Academy Award for her work on the film. The original Cartier Art Deco pieces sold the audience on the authenticity of the period piece. This particular Cartier Sautoir was recently featured at Christie’s auction, where it was sold for approximately $783,000 CDN.
High Society Grace Kelly’s Engagement Ring
Iconic actress Grace Kelly traded in the movie screen for palace life, filming her final film High Society in 1954. Her fiancé, the Prince of Monaco, gifted her with a Cartier 10.48-carat emerald-cut diamond with two tapered baguettes set in platinum. The showstopping piece was added as a prop, as Kelly couldn’t part with it during filming.
Kelly, struggling with the choice of 3 suitors in the film, lazily polishes the diamond with a sheet as she admires it. Hard to ignore the stunning engagement ring, a few lines were added to the film to draw just a little more attention to it.
The lavish diamond captured on-screen had movie-goers envious and curious of the soon-to-be Princess’ romantic and royal life.
Ocean’s 8 Collaboration
The most recent Cartier collaboration with filmmakers was on the hit film Ocean’s 8. They created the fictional Toussaint necklace, named for Cartier’s 1930s Creative Director, Jeanne Toussaint.
The necklace is based on an original 1931 piece commissioned for The Maharaja of Nawanagar. The necklace was built around The Queen of Holland Diamond. It is a stunning 136.25 carat blue-white diamond.
The original necklace had a stunning collection of colour diamonds with the blue tinted jewel at the base. Cartier used the original design, though scaled down due to the fact the original was still very large for one person to wear. The scaled down result created the most beautiful piece to fit Anne Hathaway’s character like a glove.
Though in the film the necklace did not adorn the 481 carats of diamonds of the original, the cubic zirconia, white gold and movie magic fooled many into believing the Toussaint was real.
Cartier Legacy
Cartier is one of the most recognized high jewellery designers in the world. Their legacy can be seen in Hollywood throughout the decades. It is a perfect marriage, the glam of Hollywood and the glitz of diamonds.
