There are always diamonds aplenty on the red carpet at the Met Gala, but at this year’s event lab-grown diamonds played a bigger part than ever before, bringing the issue of sustainability to the fore in front of the world’s media.
Ethical fashion pioneer Stella McCartney used the occasion to launch a lab-grown diamond collaboration with Vrai (the direct to consumer jewellery line from lab-grown diamond company the Diamond Foundry) and adorned her guests Cara Delevigne, Ed Sheeran and FKA Twigs in the stones, which are grown in Vrai’s own zero-emissions foundry. “We’re bringing innovation to the Met and you’re welcome,” she told reporters at the soiree. “[It’s] more sustainable, baby.”
Delevigne, who is the face of McCartney’s Spring/Summer 2024 campaign, wore a custom-designed recycled fabric skirt with a hooded, backless bodice crafted from Vrai’s diamonds, plus matching cuffs and a ring. Her fellow guest, Ed Sheeran, sported lab-grown diamond encrusted cufflinks and bow-tie, while his wife, Cherry Seaborn, chose a lab-grown diamond necklace and bracelets, also by Vrai.
Singer FKA Twigs went all out, too, choosing a custom Stella McCartney look with a crop top and hot pants adorned with hundreds of Vrai’s lab-grown diamonds, matching them to yet more lab-grown jewels across her ears, at her throat and on her hands.
Elsewhere on the red carpet, Instagram’s Eva Chen chose to accessorise her dramatic Robert Wun couture gown (which was inspired by Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) with some black and white lab-grown gemstone earrings by the London-based jeweller, Anabela Chan.
The black and white lab-grown diamond earrings (crafted with recycled white gold and sterling silver) also hid a secret message: the pieces spelt out ‘Garden’ and ‘Time’ in Morse code, as a nod to the theme of the event.
Model Hari Nef also attended the gala adorned in Anabela Chan‘s lab-grown diamonds, this time in the jeweller’s Diamond Cascade earrings, while the singer Lizzo opted for one of Chan’s lab-grown gemstone Canary Peony Butterfly rings and matching earrings.
Meanwhile, Pamela Anderson‘s fabulous fashion comeback continued, as she made her Met Gala debut. The actress, who does not have a stylist, channelled Grace Kelly and a ‘forest fairy’ in a silky blush-tinted Oscar de la Renta gown, adorned with custom necklaces featuring Pandora’s pink lab-grown diamonds (weighing almost 200 carats) draped across her shoulder and collarbone. “I’m in a very freeing space right now where I have the opportunity to enjoy beauty and fashion on my own terns, in pieces created with Pandora especially for me,” the star, who is a Pandora ambassador, has stated.
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Cover image courtesy of Georgia Pendlebury
