A Classic Cartier Necklace (With a Royal Tiara Connection!) on the Oscars Red Carpet

The Academy Awards always bring us some interesting jewelry moments, and this year, I’ll be highlighting a few of them over the next days and weeks. First up: a spectacular Cartier necklace, with echoes of a semi-royal tiara, on the actress Elle Fanning.

Elle Fanning, who appeared in the Oscar-nominated film A Complete Unknown, was on hand at Sunday’s ceremony to help present the award for Best Costume Design. (The award went to Wicked‘s Paul Tazewell—more on him soon!) Fanning walked the red carpet in a white lace gown made by a beloved royal designer, Sarah Burton, who famously made the Princess of Wales’s wedding dress. Burton has since left Alexander McQueen and is now the creative director of Givenchy. Fanning’s dress is one of Burton’s first designs for the fashion house.

Fanning and her stylist, Samantha McMillen, added more than a touch of sparkle to the ensemble with some fabulous vintage Cartier diamonds, including a choker-style necklace that dates to 1958.

The necklace features a swooping scallop design, with swags of draped diamonds. The tight fit of the necklace is right on trend with 1950s styles worn by the ingenues of the era. The entire look—necklace, gown, and updo—would be right at home on starlets like Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn.

Over on Instagram, there’s been some discussion about a possible royal connection for Fanning’s necklace. The British Royal Jewels account notes that it has significant similarities to the famous convertible necklace/tiara worn by the Duchess of Windsor. Wallis’s version, also made by Cartier, featured diamond festoons wrapped around cabochon emerald beads. They’re speculating that Wallis’s tiara/necklace, which was not included in the sale of her jewels after her death, may have been returned to Cartier and remodeled into the necklace worn on the red carpet by Fanning.

I think that’s possible but not probable. I’m far from an expert on Wallis’s jewels, but I believe that her convertible Cartier tiara, made in the late 1940s, was based on a stock piece of jewelry from their collections. That would suggest to me that Cartier was producing multiple pieces with this motif. I think it’s more likely that Fanning’s necklace and Wallis’s convertible tiara are simply two pieces made by the firm based on a stock design template. But I’d be happy, of course, to be wrong about that.

As for Fanning, she also wore two more pieces of Cartier diamond jewelry to finish off the look: a ring (not shown here) and a delicate watch, both also from the company’s archives. I particularly like the inclusion of a watch here instead of a bracelet—it also feels like a very ’50s-inspired choice to me.