Drew Barrymore Dazzles in Diamonds

The HBO film of the iconic documentary, Grey Gardens, had its premiere in New York yesterday, and the stars came out to celebrate in grand old Hollywood style.

Drew Barrymore has never looked more lovely in a crystal studded champagne Alberta Ferretti gown that was "inspired by Jean Harlow and Clara Bow and Carole Lombard," according to the star, herself.

She accessorized with a fur stole, a netted hair piece and a bejeweled Roger Vivier clutch with ex boyfriend, Justin Long, completing the look. It’s good to see them arm and arm again.

Co-star Jessica Lange appeared on the red carpet still healing from a terrible fall she took from the porch of her cabin that broke her collar bone (among others apparently).

Asked how she could get along on the red carpet, she joked, "I'm barely moving, but I am stumbling along."

She certainly didn’t stumble in the fashion department, looking wistful and stunning in a grey cap sleeved J. Mendel dress with gold and gemstone drop earrings to match.

And costar Jeanne Tripplehorn, who plays Jackie O in the film, was preppy perfection in a polka dot Carolina Herrera dress with diamond circle earrings to complete the look.

Based on the groundbreaking 1975 documentary, Grey Gardens follows reclusive mother and daughter "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale (Lange) and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale (Barrymore) and their everyday existence living in squalor and isolation in a decaying, 28-room East Hampton mansion.

If you thought Michelle Obama knew how to wear a brooch, you’ve never seen Little Edie in action. I can only hope the period costumes are as spectacular as the source material. Mental illness, raccoons and blue blood never worked so well under one decaying roof.

Grey Gardens debuts on Saturday on HBO.

Bridal Jewelry Breaks With Tradition

From diamond engagement rings to pearl strands, bridal jewelry style is steeped in serious snoresville, I mean, tradition. And while there is certainly nothing wrong with flashing that round cut diamond ring on your ring finger or giving your bridesmaids tried and true pearl studs to go with the dress that they’ll die black and still never wear again, there are some refreshing new trends that are breathing new life in the jewelry category.

Maybe it’s the economy forcing folks to get creative or the big whiff of change in the air since the last election, but big, colored stones are making a splash in bridal circles - from the pricier precious stones (rubies, emeralds, sapphires) to the more affordable semi-precious gems (aquamarines, citrines, peridot, etc.)

Sapphire engagement rings have been in fashion since Lady Di got her big princess cut rock from Prince Charles, but I’m seeing more birthstone baubles decorating ring fingers these days in addition to gemstone statement necklaces and earrings to give that big white dress a good shot in the arm.

The Luxist highlighted a great selection of gemstone bridal designs by Anne Bowen today, a designer who is certainly coloring outside the lines when it comes to tradition.

And engagement rings are apparently not just for women anymore. A fascinating article on Jewelry.com details a rise in ring finger bling for guys these days as more women feel its only fair that both people in the relationship wear a symbol of their pending nuptials.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

So if you’re thinking about walking down the aisle soon, know that anything goes in the bling department these days. If Michelle Obama can go sleeveless in the halls of Congress and Carrie Bradshaw can wear that green bird on her head, you can have a black diamond engagement ring if you want it, sister.

Carpe friggin' Diem!

Bret Michaels Keeps His Rock of Love

The third season of VH1’s guiltiest reality show pleasure, Rock of Love, ended last night with a diamond ring and a whole lot of cleavage.

Poison front man, Bret Michaels, was hoping the third time was the charm as he narrowed his selection of skanky soul mates down from 20 train wrecks to two lucky contenders: Mindy, the insecure Ohio girl next door, and Taya, the self-promoting Penthouse Pet with perma-pout.

The show for the first time inserted a Bachelor-esque diamond engagement ring segment, where each finalist was escorted into a room where they could choose from a selection of “rockin'” diamonds.

I’m not sure if the look of horror on their faces had to do with the god awful diamond styles they had to choose from or the idea that they actually might have to marry the dude, but the segment felt more uncomfortably forced than a CC DeVille guitar solo.

Nevertheless, Mindy and Taya showed up on the Dominican Republic beach in dresses that would make a drag queen blush to face their bandanna-ed, hair-extension-ed main man.

I admittedly was rooting for Mindy, the girl next door (she’s from my home town – the second Bret Michaels girlfriend to come from the wilds of southern Ohio), but Bret chose to walk off into the sunset with the Penthouse Pet of the year instead. Go figure?

And the diamond engagement ring? Well, Bret said he wants to wait and see where things go first (i.e. they sleep together, he realizes she’s only after the publicity, she becomes a guest judge on next year’s show).

Every Rose Has Its Price.

The Rock of Love reunion special airs on VH1 on April 19th

Miley Cyrus Strikes Gold

Tween sensation, Miley Cyrus, has a little movie coming out today in case you’ve been living in a cave, and the marketing budget leading up to the debut probably equaled the GDP of most developing nations.

The Hannah Montana star attended three premieres, the ACMA awards, and many of the early morning shows – and her jewelry style has been fun, fresh and littered with gold along the way.













Miley loves to layer her chains, and yellow gold appears to be her metal of choice. Stacked bangles are also a trademark look and tasteful statement earrings make their mark when there is a more elegant event on the agenda.

While there has been controversy surrounding the age-appropriateness of Miley’s choices in the past (the infamous Vanity Fair photo shoot with Annie Leibowitz, her 20-year-old boyfriend), it’s refreshing to see the star steer well clear of the Britney/Lolita syndrome. It’s just not what her brand is all about.

Call me old fashioned, but I’m glad young girls have a role model who isn’t catering to the fantasies of emotionally stunted men by wearing school girl uniforms, loads of diamonds, pounds of make up and belly baring costumes.

There’s plenty of time for that later.

And jewelry looks for this generation – including Taylor Swift and the High School Musical set – never seem to take things to Paris Hilton levels. There is bling and there is bling.

So even though I’m just as sick of seeing Miley or Hannah or whatever her name is as the rest of adult America, it’s nice to see that overexposed in her case doesn’t have to mean her body too.

Am I right? Or do I need to loosen up?

From Whitesnake to the Great White Way

The 80s is inspiring more than just jewelry trends and catwalk fashion these days - now Broadway is getting in on the act.

The latest jukebox musical to hit the boards is called Rock of Ages and features rockin’ 80s hits from the hair bands of yesteryear, including Poison, Styx and (of course!) Journey.



















The opening night festivities brought out Broadway’s big guns this week (can Patrick Wilson be any more adorable?) in addition to the likes of Dee Snyder, the Rock of Love bus babes and Night Ranger.

A ‘motley crew’ to be sure.










The red carpet fashion was appropriately metal-esque – with lots of skull rings, layered bangles, heavy chains, leather wristbands and fringe akimbo.

The talented cast, which features onetime American Idol hopeful Constantine Maroulis, and an onstage metal band led by Night Ranger’s Joel Hoekstra, uses familiar tunes including “More Than Words” and “Heat of the Moment” to tell the story of a wanna-be rocker who works in a legendary L.A. dive and chases the girl of his dreams while German developers threaten to demolish the Sunset Strip.

Just another day in the life of a head banger.


According to Rolling Stone, the show begins with an announcement from Whitesnake’s David Coverdale: “No flash photography unless you’re really, really hot and willing to show us your boobs.” - and ends with a sing along to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'.”

Sprinkled along the way are over 25 more 80s hits, beer sales for the audience, and free LED flashlights to sway for the power ballads.

I can smell the perm solution percolating....

So if you 'Wanna Know What Love Is" get your big hair to the Big Apple and bang your head with Broadway's best. Cross necklace and fingerless gloves not included.

Brooch Diplomacy - Michelle and Madeleine Communicate with Jewelry

If Michelle Obama is ushering in a new era of power brooch diplomacy, she wouldn’t be the first. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a tenacious negotiator, loved to communicate her mood and intentions through her brooches, and now the Museum of Arts & Design in New York will exhibit 200 of her favorites.

Albright "found that what she wore and how she presented herself had a lot of interpretive meaning to those she was with," said Holly Hotchner, the museum's director. "The pins became an added way that she communicated as secretary of state."

"Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection," scheduled to open in September, comes 10 years after the museum presented "Brooching It Diplomatically," a show of pins created by contemporary artists inspired by the ones Albright wore.

"She started acquiring pins because of their inherent messages, their whimsical and pictorial quality," said David Revere McFadden, the museum's chief curator. "It's not about jewels and gems, it's about jewelry as a communication device."

The collection is diverse, ranging from Americana styles — including flags and eagles — to ones with flora, fauna and insect themes. She always brought a selection with her on her travels so she could be ready for any situation.

For instance, Albright chose to wear a bee pin whenever she felt talks amounted to "something like a sting," McFadden said.

"It's a very gentle way of saying to whomever she is speaking to: 'Listen carefully because I'm kind of telling you where I think this conversation is going,"' he said.

When she thought negotiations would likely go well, she would wear a balloon pin. Another pin, made of stainless steel, shows the head of Lady Liberty with two watch faces for eyes, one of which is upside down. The pin allows both her and others to check the time.

I wonder how many times Albright said the word ‘pinhead’ during the Bush administration?

The exhibition, running from Sept. 30 though Jan. 31, 2010, will be accompanied by a book, "Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box," written by Albright.

A-list Jewelry on a D-list Line-up

Bravo’s second annual The A-List Awards filmed in Los Angeles over the weekend, and our favorite reality show stars showed up in diamonds, gold and gowns galore.

Life on the D-List star, Kathy Griffin, hosted the event which celebrates the best in food, fashion, beauty, design and pop culture. And while the ‘best’ is certainly debatable considering their line-up of reality show divas (The entire Real Housewives casts), wannabe reality show divas (Making the Band’s Aubrey O’Day. Ick.), and long lost reality show divas (trashy Trichelle from the Real World? Really?), there were some A-list jewelry statements worth celebrating.



















Yellow gold lit up the red carpet on a glowing Mila Jovovich in a daring yellow gold statement necklace and headpiece. And Top Chef host, Padma Lakshmi, was decked out in golden jewels from her own signature jewelry line.



















And someone sent a memo to all the blondes, with a skeletal Tori Spelling, Travis Barker ex, Shanna Moakler, and Jim Carey main squeeze, Jenny McCarthy all opting for yellow gold statement earrings – and all looking quite lovely, actually. (Tori. Eat a sandwich. Please.)


















No one does skanky chic quite like Paris Hilton – whose shocking diamond fan earrings and icy pink diamond cuff made her hot pink Barbie doll dress walk on the right side of trashy.

And Kathy Griffin looked like anything but a D-lister, actually, in a black sequined number with shoulder dusters to die for.

Bravo!

What reality show diva does Kathy tongue kiss onstage? The show airs on April 15th so set your DVRs to find out!