Diamonds are forever.
For VogueIn the prestigious September 2024 issue, Blake Lively wore a $3.8 million Cartier necklace that once belonged to Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor — and it comes with a tragic backstory.
The 36-year-old actress played the role of a glamorous jewel thief (“The Cat”) for the Hitchcock-inspired film Vogue “fashion fantasy” called “Robbery of Hearts”, directed by Baz Luhrmann. In the cinematic editorial, which also stars Hugh Jackman, Lively is laden with stolen jewels, one of which is a Cartier ruby and diamond necklace Taylor gave her then-husband Mike Todd in 1957.
“And I had an Elizabeth Taylor necklace!” the Gossip girl alum told Vogue in his accompanying interview. “An Elizabeth Taylor necklace in me hand. I have to show you. So there were these people who had these rubber covers on their fingers, and I had a foam mat under me in case the necklace fell off…”
Blake Lively stars as a fashionably dressed cat burglar alongside Hugh Jackman in Striking Vogue To shoot
Blake Lively for Vogue.
Baz Luhrmann/Vogue
According to The Adventurine, the necklace, along with a matching bracelet and earrings, was given to Taylor by her film producer husband while they were vacationing in southern France in August 1957.
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The sweet reaction of the late actress to the jewels was caught on camera by a friend. In the silent 20-second clip, Taylor smiles while wearing a necklace and earrings before blowing Todd a kiss. At the time the video was shot, the actress was pregnant with the couple’s only child, Elizabeth “Liza” Todd, prompting some to theorize that the gift was an early gift, writes The Adventurine.
Taylor married Todd, her third husband, in 1957. In 1958, he died in a plane crash, leaving Taylor a widow at the age of 26. After his death, Cartier jewels remained a symbol of their tragically short love story.
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The necklace, earrings and bracelet were sold individually at Elizabeth Taylor’s Christie’s auction in 2011, where the Cartier Collection bought the necklace for $3,778,500.
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Source: HIS Education