Hollywood Star's Diamond and Engagement Rings

Angelina Jolie Diamond Accessories

Everyone from Angelina Jolie to Heidi Klum displayed their finest diamond jewelry and gemstone jewelry in Los Angeles last night at the 81st annual Academy Awards.

Jolie, who was nominated for Best Actress, looked fabulous in a black Elie Saab Couture gown accessorized with a 65-carat Colombian emerald ring and 115-carat emerald earrings from Lorraine Schwartz.  Lorraine Schwartz has been the hottest name in diamond jewelry lately, dressing everyone from movie stars to First Lady Michelle Obama.

Other celebrities wearing Lorraine Schwartz to the 2009 Oscars included Beyonce, with her yellow-gold diamond leaf Lorraine Schwartz rings, and Heidi Klum, whose $900,000 worth of Lorraine Schwartz diamond jewelry complemented her asymmetrical Roland Mouret gown.  Klum wore the bold crimson gown to draw attention to the Heart Truth campaign, which raises awareness about heart disease among women.

Best Supporting Actress nominee Amy Adams made the largest jewelry statement of the evening, topping off her crimson Herrera bustier dress with a Fred Leighton bib necklace that contained 39 carats of diamonds and 630 carats of emeralds, rubies and sapphires.  But the Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, Penelope Cruz, also scored with her outfit: a 60-year old vintage Pierre Balmain gown which she accessorized with a whopping $3 million worth of Chopard diamond jewelry, including a 69-carat diamond necklace. 

Other fashion winners included Best Actress Kate Winslet with her Chopard diamond bracelet, Halle Berry with her H. Stern diamond jewelry, and Marisa Tomei with vintage jewels from Van Cleef & Arpel that included a 1941 diamond and sapphire bracelet, a 1960 diamond ring, and 1973 lapis and diamond earrings.

Celebrity Engagement Rings

Celebrity marriages may have the self life that lasts as long as a freshly baked muffin at your local bakery but the rings these brides-to-be sport are often decadent, opulent and jaw-dropping beautiful. Square cut or pear shaped, diamonds really are a girl’s best friend….and even if the marriages don’t last, these rings have gone down in history.

Perhaps the most famous engagement ring of all time goes to the unlikely duo of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, formerly dubbed Bennifer by the media. The pink Harry Winston diamond had a whooping 6.5 carats and had an estimated price tag of anywhere from 1.2 million dollars to 2.5 million. The pink solitaire diamond was flanked by trapezoid shaped white diamonds on each side. Alas, the nuptials never took place and Harry Winston reacquired this legendary gem and put it back on the block for an undisclosed amount.
Who could forget the fairy tale wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. It all began with a proposal and an oval blue sapphire engagement ring that had an astounding 18 carats surrounded by 14 diamonds. Diana was given her choice of rings by Garrard Jewelers, and bucking royal tradition, chose a ring that was not a one-of-a-kind creation. Diana’s legendary ring was a piece featured in the upscale jewelers catalog for $65,000 and available to anyone who could afford it.

Speaking of Princesses, Grace Kelly become royalty after her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco with a 12 carat emerald cut diamond engagement ring. She sports this hefty rock in her final film performance titled “High Society” and Bing Crosby famously quips “some stone, did you mine it yourself?”. The famous emerald cut stone had a baguette diamond on each side and was specially chosen by the prince in the trend of the large rings that Hollywood actresses were wearing.

Jackie Bouvier was presented with a ring featuring a 2.88 carat square cut diamond and 2.84 carat emerald with tapered baguettes by Van Cleef & Arpels from John F. Kennedy in June of 1953. As with most everything Jackie Kennedy did, this media darling set a trend, making emeralds a popular choice during the 1950s for engagement rings. Her second marriage to Aristotle Onassis landed a 40 carat diamond ring on her hand and when it was auctioned off in 1996, it brought in 2.5 million dollars.

The couch-jumping, Scientology-loving actor that is Tom Cruise popped the question to Katie Holmes at the top of the Eiffel Tower in 2005 with a pale pink diamond engagement ring, with an estimated worth of just over 1 million dollars. The 5 carat oval shaped diamond is set in platinum and rose gold and has an antique look, reminiscent of an art deco style.

Catherine Zeta-Jones sports a 10 carat marquise cut diamond engagement ring by Michael Douglas. This antique looking ring was designed by Fred Leighton and inspired by the 1920s. It has been estimated at a worth of around 2 million dollars and features a 10 carat stone in the middle, surrounded by 28 smaller stones.