The other night, the lovely and talented Julianne Moore attended a pre-Oscar party, Bvlgari’s Celebration of Elizabeth Taylor’s Collection at Bvlgari Beverly Hills, and was the lucky one chosen to wear Taylor’s very famous and incomparable emerald and diamond necklace. Elizabeth was given the necklace along with a ring, earrings and bracelet (referred at the time as the Grand Duchess Vladimir Suite – how fancy is that?!) by Richard Burton in 1963. Purchased at Bvlgari in Rome, she wore the necklace to events around the world and to the Oscars in 1967, when she was named Best Actress for her role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf (good movie). What’s super cool about the necklace is you can detach the pendant and it can be worn separately as a broach – which Taylor did often. Bvlgari jewellery experts purchased the necklace at a Christie’s auction in 2011 for more than $6.1 million (no big deal).
Now back to Julianne. Obviously, she is so cool and has incredibly good style – and I hate to say it – but this look was pretty disappointing. Wearing a simple strapless Alexander McQueen coral dress and nude pointy toe shoes with the legendary necklace just didn’t work – like super underwhelming. Sometimes when I don’t like a look on the red carpet or at a party I can at least see what the person was going for. But not this time. The outfit itself is lovely but it sure doesn’t do the famous necklace any justice. It looks like she wondered into Bvlgari on a Saturday after lunch with her friends and a salesperson let her try on the necklace for fun. I’m not saying she should have worn it with some crazy elaborate dress but at least in something with a bit of drama that had a luxurious vibe to it to go along with the necklace. And with emeralds, dark red lips are a must. Can you imagine if she wore it with this beautiful Tom Ford outfit (Fall 2012 – awesome collection)? It would’ve made way more sense.
Casey Wagar 