Julianne Moore Epitomizes Jewelry Ambition at the 2024 Golden Globes

Julianne Moore Epitomizes Jewelry Ambition at the 2024 Golden Globes

Jewelry ambition visible: Julianne Moore in a Cartier High Jewelry necklace of white and yellow diamonds and petrified wood.

The ambition is immediately clear: High Jewelry is the highest level of craftsmanship and design, and it is strictly one of a kind. It is rarely seem on the red carpet because by the time awards season has begun, High Jewelry has already been presented to clients, and the most covetable pieces are almost always immediately snatched up. Moore’s stylist Kate Young expressed her frustration with this jewelry predicament but obviously there was one, this time, that got away.

81st annual golden globe awards arrivals
Moore at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards.Monica Schipper/GA - Getty Images

But this necklace tells many tales. A Cartier snake—and this piece is reptilian inspired in its shape and diamond scale texture—is rare (you are right if a Panther comes more immediately to mind) but ripe with history. In 1968, actress María Félix ordered a Cartier snake and that piece—all 57 fully articulated centimeters of it—instantly became an icon. You likely also recall the images of María Félix posing with her diamond snake. (You might also remember her Cartier crocodile necklace.)

portrait of maria felix on a boat in venice
María Félix in 1959: Spot the snakes.Mondadori Portfolio - Getty Images

Equally historic—and signature Cartier—are the materials. Like the highly collectible Cartier Art Deco Egyptian revival pieces of onyx and coral, and lapis and turquoise, or the wildly daring colorful Cartier Chimera bracelets, this piece, too, revels in the unexpected. The petrified wood hand-laid with the yellow and white diamonds accurately recreates the piece’s serpentine inspiration, and it certainly shows off the expert artistry of the Cartier workshops, but it also prompts our favorite kind of jewelry question, the one that proves that these pieces when done this well, remain full of wonder and mystery.

The question? “Wait, what is that?” Because predictability is the enemy of delight, remember? And petrified wood next to a 4 carat rose cut diamond is, by all accounts, completely delightful.


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