MILAN — The Academy Awards ceremony offers a powerful, global window of opportunity, said Lucia Silvestri, Bulgari’s jewelry creative director.
To be sure, according to Statista, the 2025 edition of the Oscars drew an audience of 19.7 million people and The Walt Disney Company reported that last year the event “earned 104.2 million total social interactions, ranking as the number-one most social TV program year to date, outperforming both the Grammys and the Super Bowl,” for the first time on record. “The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saw an increase of 82 percent year-over-year in social engagement across all platforms, reaching over 64 million likes, comments and shares,” it added.
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Aware of this reach, Bulgari at the Oscars on Sunday previewed jewels from its most recent high jewelry collection, called “Eclettica,” on brand ambassadors Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Anne Hathaway. “Eclettica” will then be officially unveiled in Milan on March 23.
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“It’s such an important occasion only a few days ahead of our presentation,” said Silvestri, adding that Bulgari’s “clients like to see the jewels at this kind of international event worn by our brand ambassadors.”
Bulgari has been a fixture at the Oscars for decades worn by numerous actors and celebrities, from Elizabeth Taylor, who received the best actress award in 1966 for her role as Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” wearing the emerald and diamond necklace that is now part of the Bulgari Heritage collection, to Isabella Rossellini, who last year honored her mother, Ingrid Bergman. Rossellini wore vintage Bulgari earrings that Bergman wore when she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 1975 for her role as Greta Ohlsson in “Murder on the Orient Express,” directed by Sidney Lumet. Rossellini paired the earrings with a high jewelry sapphire necklace.
Consistently making bold fashion statements at the Oscars, brand ambassador Zendaya in 2022 wore Bulgari’s 31-carat Paraíba tourmaline necklace with diamonds and in 2024 high jewelry earrings with morganites and turquoise in 2024, among other examples.
Bulgari’s signature Serpenti necklaces have also been a staple on the red carpet, seen on Florence Pugh, Angela Bassett, Cara Delevingne, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Charlize Theron, among others.
In 2006, Jennifer Aniston wore a 137-carat Art Deco diamond necklace from the Bulgari Heritage Collection and Keira Knightley wore a 1960s-era Bulgari necklace previously owned by Princess Soraya of Iran.
It’s not surprising that necklaces appear on this list since “they are the jewels that stand out,” said Silvestri, and “they complete a look. Necklaces and jewels in general define your style and your personality.”
Asked if she has seen an increased attention to jewelry at the Oscars, she said that “it’s been fluctuating, there have been years of more minimalist looks but over the past few years there’s been a return of the necklace. I have recently seen more monochromatic gowns, for example, so adding the right jewel makes the difference. Jewels can be seen as accessories that add that special touch to even a simple gown.”
This was the second time Bulgari decided to debut pieces from its high jewelry collection during a high-profile event. Last year, Chopra Jonas and Hathaway hit the red carpet for the Met Gala wearing jewelry from the “Polychroma” collection that would be unveiled a few weeks later in Taormina, Sicily. Co-chair A$AP Rocky also wore a ring, earrings and a necklace from the “Polychroma” collection.
“Depending on the date of the official unveiling, we like to tease it this way on special occasions with our ambassadors; it makes for a nice moment,” Silvestri explained.
The designer said the theme of this year’s high jewelry collection “immediately captivated me and sparked my creativity,” as the term eclectic defines Bulgari, “a quality intrinsically woven” into the house. “Our creative process finds its vital energy from diversity and contrast, nourished by inspirations that emerge from every direction.”
“Eclettica” was inspired by artistic disciplines — sculpture, painting and architecture, Silvestri said. “Sculpture inspires tridimensional volumes that play with light and shadow. Painting offers a chromatic vocabulary where gemstones act as precious strokes of color, orchestrated in vibrant and unexpected harmonies. Architecture introduces rhythm, balance and proportion.”
Hathaway chose a necklace that Silvestri described as “timeless and classic,” with baguette and round diamonds with a vivid yellow 8.02-carat drop diamond that can be detached.
Silvestri described the necklace chosen by Chopra Jonas as shaped as a sculptural 3D snake detailed with onyx and emeralds, “on a soft carpet of pavé diamonds with a blue 14.01-carat sapphire below the head of the snake. It is an amazing work of craft and technical mastery.”
The Bulgari Eclettica necklace chosen by Priyanka Chopra Jonas for the Oscars.