Celebs Are Being Paid Lots of Money to Wear Jewels That Are Worth Lots of Money

It’s no secret that the Cannes Film Festival (where glitz rules and high heels are reportedly mandatory on the red carpet), is a major marketing opportunity for luxury brands.

In fact, jeweler Chopard thought the film festival was so key to its strategy, it apparently wrote checks totaling over $1 million to ensure that 11 stars, like Julianne Moore and Lupita Nyong’o, would wear the company’s baubles during the festivities.

Yes, if you’re an A-List, of-the-moment actress or model, a company will loan you diamonds or emeralds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and pay you six figures for the pleasure of “collaborating” on the event.

So common is the practice of paying stars to don jewels during awards season, “7/10 of the nominees and presenters are paid for at least one or more of the items they are wearing [on the] red carpet,” says Matthew Berritt, Director at EVINS Communications, a leading luxury PR firm, based in New York. Berritt adds that brands usually “target just one big red carpet event, because if a star is touting Bulgari at each awards show, viewers will realize that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.”

So how much do celebs make doing this? The Financial Times threw out the $100,000 figure; Anne Hathaway was reportedly paid $750,000 to wear Tiffany & Co. jewelry to the 2011 Oscars (the company’s rep’s didn’t deny she was paid, but merely clarified that the amount was “incorrect.“)

According to Berritt, “Brands spend a ton of money for this type of exposure. At the lowest point, a nominee or a presenter will be paid in the range of $20,000 for one red carpet appearance. Fees goes up to $150,000-200,000 for a partnership that spans the entire Awards season.”

But such a deal comes with plenty of strings attached. Contracts stipulate that the celeb must talk about the item she is wearing, and there may well be an armed security guard accompanying her on the red carpet. Says one jewelry industry insider, if the actress doesn’t live up to her side of the bargain, the guard may well report back to the brand, endangering her payout. (Big Jeweler is watching!) If a celebrity breaches a contract, as Charlize Theron did by wearing a Christian Dior watch when she was contractually obligated to wear Raymond Weil, she may get sued for millions of dollars.

Deals like this are made every day in Hollywood, but lest you think it’s a ruthless money grab by stars who may already be making millions for one movie, insiders say that it’s all part of the machine. “It’s a celebrity’s business manager’s job to look outside of entertainment for money-making opportunities,” notes one source familiar with such negotiations. “They will gladly take their 20% cut.”

That doesn’t always mean that starlet du jour plus priceless jewelry is a match made in heaven. “When it comes to jewelry, sponsored wardrobing can get pretty complex,” explains Berritt. “What happens is they’ll get paid to wear the jewelry, but the gown is theirs to choose, so occasionally you’ll see a dress on the red carpet that has the wrong neckline for the necklace, and insiders will say, ‘She was paid to wear that.’”

If it looks inorganic, the deal may not have the intended impact. The same goes for choosing an A-lister who is off-brand. At Cannes, the jewelry company De Grisogono, which caters to the well-heeled Park Avenue set, hosted a bash packed with models like Cara Delevingne, who wore a showstopping emerald and diamond collar and Saint Laurent dress for the occasion. You can bet, says the jewelry industry insider, that she was paid a hefty sum to wear the necklace.

But whether Delevingne, who resonates with a young, social-media savvy generation, more Converse than Chanel tweeds, will translate into sales for the brand remains to be seen. “At the end of the day, the company’s CEO loves his models, and that’s how he chooses to spend his money.”

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