By Rachel Garrahan, guest editor, LA awards season
At this time of year in Los Angeles, awards ceremonies take place every weekend. However, no red carpet event comes close to the undisputed king, the Academy Awards, which took place yesterday. This is the show for which the stars reserve their most glamorous gowns and finest jewels, and the 86th Academy Awards did not disappoint.
I was fortunate enough to attend the ceremony this year, getting a dose of red-carpet glamour in beautiful drop earrings by Ivy New York, featuring red spinel, this year's stone of the moment, and diamonds with stunning clarity. I also wore a Chimento cocktail ring, its diamonds darkly glamorous in their black rhodium setting with diamond pavé gold claws.
One of the first people I spotted on the red carpet was the effortlessly chic Lupita Nyong'o, who went on to win the Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role for '12 Years a Slave', the Steve McQueen slavery drama that also won Best Picture.
Lupita looked every inch the evening's golden girl in multiple Fred Leighton jewels, including a delicate gold and diamond headband, gold and rose-cut diamond spiked earrings and a trio of vintage rings that complimented her powder-blue, pleated Prada gown. She also wore a gold frog ring by the estate jeweller, which she described as her "family totem".
Read more on Fred Leighton jewelry
As always, diamonds were everywhere, but nowhere more prominently than on nominee Jennifer Lawrence and presenter Charlize Theron. The star of 'American Hustle' paired her tomato-red peplum Dior gown with US$3 million of Neil Lane diamonds, including a necklace draped down her back, just as she did at last year's Oscars. Charlize wore her blonde crop swept back with a simple, perfectly fitted black Dior dress, all the better to show off her staggering US$15m Harry Winston diamond necklace.
This year's winner of the Oscar for Best Actress, Cate Blanchett, once again displayed her red carpet prowess with giant opal earrings from Chopard and a custom-made Armani Prive gown so heavily bejewelled it appeared to make music as she sashayed past me.
For alternative jewellery design - or an animal edge at least - one had to look no further than Naomi Watts in her Bulgari spider web necklace and Serpenti bracelet. And for some welcome colour, Amy Adams, nominated for Best Actress for her role in 'American Hustle', stood out. She paired her deep blue Gucci gown with Tiffany's Blue Book Collection rodochrosite, lapis and turquoise gold earrings and a gold ring with fire opal, pink sapphire, yellow diamond and spessarite beads.
Angelina Jolie divided the critics with her embroidered Elie Saab couture gown, but she didn't disappoint with her accessories: a pair of simple yet stunning Robert Procop diamond drop earrings in gold, from the Exceptional Jewels collection. A one-off design featuring 42 carats of diamonds, they were the only dazzling adornment she needed.
Read about our red carpet jewelry predictions for the Oscars
