Did Rose Byrne just shift the entire red carpet jewelry conversation with one necklace? The Academy Award-nominated actress wore a one-of-a-kind cognac diamond and chocolate enamel choker from Taffin by James De Givenchy tonight on the red carpet, and this is why that matters.
Someone once described James De Givenchy as the James Bond of the jewelry world. It might be the Ducatis, or the monogrammed shirts, the blue eyes, or the blue jeans. It might be the private atelier, high above the streets of Manhattan, with its orange lacquer and brown velvet and bulletproof glass. But the comparison owes just as much to the smooth, subtle artistry of his designs. “We move forward,” Givenchy says, “but ultimately it’s about taste, how you put it together.”
In his case, that can be rare mandarin garnets paired with coral and spinel, or jade lined with bronze. Town & Country placed him in the small group of artists we call The Super Jewelers. They create only a limited number of one-of-a-kind pieces. They sell only by appointment. They work with the rarest of stones and the most innovative of materials, and for only the most discerning of people. Their names are spoken frequently by those fluent in the secret language of jewelry snobs, but otherwise they are purposefully unknown. They almost never, ever loan pieces for award shows, or even—and we know this from experience—for magazine photo shoots.
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Byrne on the red carpet.
Byrne’s stylist Kate Young, however, has gained trust at this level of jewelry. She is one of the few who understands and loves the craft. Her choice to put a Belperron pearl and gold torque on her client Michelle Williams inspired a whole essay we ran about jewelry ambition. And that is exactly what we are seeing tonight on Rose Byrne.
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Byrne in a black Dior gown.
To accompany her Dior gown, a daring jewelry move: not white diamonds but a cognac one, a selection that echoes the increasing popularity of what A Diamond is Forever calls “Desert diamonds” stones in shades of sand and sun. The stone is suspended by the most delicate of gold wires that has been hand painted with chocolate enamel at select points in the design.
On her hand another signature Taffin flourish: a similarly colored stone set in electric blue enamel. “I’ve always been drawn to natural diamonds that exist outside the traditional white spectrum,” de Givenchy says. “hese stones carry a depth and warmth that feels very alive. The ring features a Botswana sourced fancy deep brown-cognac Ashoka-cut diamond by William Goldberg. It’s a cut I admire for its elongated elegance and for the way it reveals the character of the stone. I paired it with rose gold and Arizona blue ceramic to create a contrast that feels both bold and harmonious. The necklace centers on a beautiful cognac-brown antique-cut diamond set in dark brown ceramic. Antique cuts have a softness and irregularity that I find incredibly appealing—they reflect light in a more intimate way. The ceramic setting frames the stone with a rich depth of color, allowing the warmth of the diamond to really emerge.”
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Another look at her necklace.
The color pairings and the exquisite confidence of the design make it clearly Taffin but so does the completeness of the piece in its entirety. This is a necklace that is not just about stones or just about design, but about their dialogue with each other and about the vision of Givenchy. “I create pieces I hope will never be taken apart,” the designer once told T&C. “I am trying to safeguard a craft that is being lost.”
Now how does this have the potential to change everything? It is in the power of the pivot. The same way we all stood up and paid attention when Gwyneth Paltrow wore turquoise Belperron to the Actor Awards, we lean in and immediately want to know exactly who made Rose Byrne’s necklace.
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Byrne and husband Bobby Cannavale.
We ask that most provocative of jewelry questions: “Wait, what is that?” as we stare at the Desert diamond or the chocolate enamel or the electric blue ring. It is jewelry design with a capital D on the red carpet, an arena that has become strangely timid in embracing the medium even as big statement necklaces dominate the season.
Go ahead, Rose Byrne’s Taffin necklace is saying to all present and watching, you have the world’s best stones and jewels available to you, just really go for it.
Editor-in-Chief Stellene Volandes is a jewelry expert, and the author of Jeweler: Masters and Mavericks of Modern Design (Rizzoli).
