Diamonds may be a girl best friend, but a jewellery box is nothing without a string of pearls.
A woman must never underestimate the ability of this little creation of mother nature’s to transform any outfit. For inspiration, here’s who has done it best.
Coco Chanel wore pearls every day and taught women the art costume jewellery, Coco Chanel used to mix genuine pearls with strand after strand of fake pearls.
Wearing the real thing Coco was known to add a strand or two of fake pearls making it seem as though she was wearing lots and lots of genuine pearls. As she wore ‘opera length’ pearl necklaces, the effect was stunning.
1920s socialite and enigmatic beauty Sara Murphy wore her long strand of pearls to the beach everyday.
She would loop them around her back so as not to mar her tan; and, she said, because the sun was good for them. For this, she became a style-setter and muse.
Jackie O also faked it, her $80 famous and much-photographed triple strand pearl choker fake pearls sold at auction for $211, 500.
Actress and jewellery collector Elizabeth Taylor owns the most famous pearl, La Peregrina. Given to her in 1969 by then-husband Richard, La Peregrina, an enormous, pear-shaped white pearl, was found by a slave in the early 1500s in the Gulf of Panama.
First given as a wedding gift to Mary Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VIII, the rare and extraordinary gem was owned by a succession of royalty before being purchased at auction by Burton for Taylor as a Valentine’s Day gift.
Audrey Hepburn created a pearl sensation in Breakfast at Tiffany. Her little black dress was the perfect backdrop for the six-strand pearl and rhinestone necklace she sported as adorable Holly Golightly.
Modern day style icon Sarah Jessica Parker, and just as importantly Carrie Bradshaw, is definitely a girl who knows her pearls.
While Carrie often flirted with pearls in the series, she traded in her signature gold nameplate necklace for a strand of Mikimoto pearls for the film version of Sex and the City.
Meanwhile Sarah Jessica Parker made layered oversize pearl necklaces oh-so-chic in her Gap ads last year.
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