In Hollywood, the Oscars are fashion’s biggest night. And the iconic outfits wouldn’t be complete without some added sparkle. Celebrity jeweller Martin Katz told the Associated Press that, on average, celebrities wear between $200,000 and $1 million worth of jewellery to award shows — and they don’t pay a cent for any of it.
Katz told the AP that jewellers loan glitzy pieces to stars in hopes of getting publicity. But lending the pieces doesn’t guarantee that they’ll make it to the red carpet. Katz explained that celebrity stylists gather four to six different jewellery looks per gown option for each client before deciding on the most red carpet-worthy ensemble.
Since the jewels have to be returned after the awards show, the entire operation is high-security.
“Security is part of the process,” Forevermark Diamonds’ Kristen Trustey told the AP. “Our diamonds are well-protected from the time that stylists are visiting the suite to when we are doing drops to celebrities homes or hotels with armored trucks and guards, and of course insurance.”
But the real risk, Katz explained, comes when celebrities walk the red carpet.
“At the Oscars, the biggest risk is that a piece of jewellery were to fall off a celebrity unnoticed,” he explained. “Maybe a bracelet becomes unhinged, falls on the red carpet, gets kicked, or an earring falls off and gets kicked and nobody notices. They don’t notice until later it’s gone. We hold our breaths until all the babies come home the next day.”
But in 2018, many people have cut the cord and might not tune into the red carpet show to find out who and what people are wearing. To be sure that people see their jewellery, some jewellers reportedly pay A-listers to promote their pieces on social media, according to the AP. Katz, who has had his own business since 1988, said that he doesn’t pay celebrities to wear his jewellery.
However, the industry wasn’t always this way. Stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Collins used to buy their own jewellery, the AP reported.
“I used to have a lot of celebrity clients, but over the years what has happened with celebrity as an advertisement — they are gifted at so many things, they are loaned so many things,” Katz said. “They virtually have no need to buy anything.” (Insider)
