“Platinum acts like footlights to a jewel,” explains designer Deirdre Featherstone. “It illuminates all the gems.” The way the metal makes diamonds shine bright is legendary. It’s one of the reason platinum has long been used by the best designers. It’s also why diamond and platinum jewels appear at all the big red-carpet events in the world today. What has been less well-known is how magnificently platinum lights up candy colored gems. Things, however, are rapidly changing on that score. Platinum jewels set with gems in colors of the rainbow can be found in several new jewelry collections. Many of the magnificent designs have already made red carpet appearances where the stars show all kinds of stylish ways to wear the colorful platinum pieces.
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Reese Witherspoon color matched her ensemble for the March 13 London premiere of a Wrinkle in Time. The Tanzanite pear-shape gems at the center of her diamond and platinum Tiffany pendant earrings coordinated perfectly with the pastel blue in her Ellie Saab cocktail dress. The gems also lit up her blue eyes.
At the 90th Annual Academy Awards Wonder Woman star, Gal Gadot, debuted jewels from the 2018 Tiffany Blue Book Collection including an exquisite platinum necklace set with a 27-carat aquamarine pendant and over 1,000 diamonds. “While inspired by Tiffany & Co.’s extraordinary Art Deco jewelry from the 1930s, the necklace’s icy aquamarines, classic lines and graphic shapes juxtaposed with platinum and diamonds make it feel irreverent and unexpectedly modern,” said Reed Krakoff chief artistic officer at Tiffany. The star added a dramatic backdrop to the jewel by contrasting the cool colors of the piece with a silver and gunmetal fringe metallic gown by Givenchy.
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In January, Kristen Bell became the first person ever to host the Screen Actors Guild Awards. (In the past, the ceremony moved from one presenter to the next.) For her historic role on the show, the star and her stylist Nicole Chavez chose several different platinum pieces with colored gemstones. For the red carpet, the comedienne looked gorgeous in a fuchsia J. Mendel strapless gown paired with platinum jewelry by Lorraine Schwartz. Her line earrings sparkled with various shades of natural Padparadscha and pink sapphires in platinum. While her ruby and platinum rings echoed the color of her dress.
At about the mid-way point of the SAG Awards, Kristen wore an astonishing statement necklace. The Lorraine Schwartz platinum design featured a gorgeous collage of rubies in any number of shapes interspersed by round diamonds. The necklace looked dramatic at the jeweled necklace of a black Reem Acra gown.
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For the closing of the SAG Awards, Kristen put on an Yanina Couture gown with a plunging neckline, wore her hair up and let her final pair of earrings shine. The platinum designs by Lorraine Schwartz featured baton shape pieces of gorgeous green jade.
For her 30th birthday party at The Grill in New York City in February, Rihanna was decked out in around a million dollars in jewelry. While there were no official photos of the star taken by the press, the images on Instagram revealed two of her most significant jewels had pink gems set with diamonds and platinum that coordinated with the bold fuchsia bubble detail in her black Saint Laurent mini dress. The precious pink topaz diamond and platinum ear clips by Verdura shining from Rihanna’s lobes were originally made as a pair of brooches in 1951. A few years ago, they were converted by the jeweler into ear clips. The other pop of pink in Rihanna’s jewelry was a $240,000, 11.30-carat pink sapphire, diamond, platinum and ring by Oscar Heyman.
Beyond the red carpet, colorful gem and platinum jewelry shines as the center of many sensational jewelry collections. The elegant platinum designs from Kwiat’s Vintage collection feature specially-cut colored gems that brilliantly highlight the diamond patterns of the design. This type of gem cutting is rarely found in contemporary designs. Just look at the little triangular sapphires in the bracelet and modified tear-drop shaped rubies in the ring. They are something special. All the gems are edged with a milgrain details—tiny little beads—in the platinum.
Platinum jewels with an array of pretty pastel gems form the foundation of Deirdre Featherstone’s collection. The super talent who not only designs but also makes her own jewels on the bench adores working with the metal. “I compare platinum to being in a good relationship,” explains Deirdre. “It is something that supports you and is complimentary.” The designer’s platinum jewels feature diamonds and dreamy gems in beautiful families of colors. Her Sakura earrings, for example, have Rhodolite and 53.59-carats of Kunzites. The Coleman’s Smokey Blues earrings are set with sapphires, Tanzanite, Paraiba tourmalines, lavender spinel, blue spinel and color-change garnet. The platinum flourishes she adds to each piece include milgrain details.
As fresh as platinum and colorful gems look in new jewels the chic combination has been around for about 100-years. It can be found in many vintage pieces. Beladora, the Los Angeles based jewelry emporium that is known for bejeweling stars on the red carpet, has any number of designs that span the decades. One gorgeous Art Deco bracelet from Beladora shines with multiple-strands of amethyst beads and a geometric diamond and platinum clasp. An amazing bracelet made around 1950 features platinum links between links set with rubies and others with sapphires. These amazing historic jewels prove how the delicious pairing of platinum and candy color gems has long since withstood the test of time and deserves to be in the spotlight now.
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