Style & Culture

Natural diamonds are the defining detail of award season’s first week

Lily Allen, Coleman Domingo, Anok Yai and ASAP Rocky delivered some of the week’s most striking diamond moments across London and New York

Bianca Hartel | 4 min read
Published: December 2, 2025 | Last updated: December 2, 2025
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Award season opened with a clear shift in red-carpet styling as London and New York delivered the first major cultural moments of the year. The Fashion Awards 2025 brought sculptural glamour and theatrical silhouettes to London’s Royal Albert Hall, while the Gotham Awards offered a more intimate reflection of the film landscape closer to home. 


British Fashion Awards 2025 red carpet highlights  

At the Fashion Awards, red carpet-style centered on sharp tailoring, dramatic volume and romantic detailing. Jewelry choices reflected a shift toward deliberate accessorizing, with natural diamonds providing a luminous, defining finish for several of the evening’s standout looks. 

Lily Allen wowed in custom Valentino with bold Desert diamond brilliance 

Lily Allen turned heads on the blue carpet in a butter-yellow gown styled by Leith Clark. The Valentino creation featured a sheer lace neckline and soft, romantic silhouette, creating a delicate backdrop for her ornate diamond jewelry.

She wore Moussaieff natural diamonds, including a bold collar and dramatic drop earrings featuring large pear-shaped Desert diamonds. The intricate details and high-brilliance finish of the pieces added richness and contrast to the gown’s airy palette 

Anok Yai paired her Model of the Year win with luminous diamond accents

Anok Yai collected the Model of Year award in an ivory satin corset gown by Dilara Findikoglu, a look defined by its deconstructed silhouette, sharp boning and sweeping train.

She paired it with sculptural diamond drop earrings and delicate diamond bracelets on each wrist, a minimalist jewelry choice that added just the right amount of shine without distracting from the architectural lines of the dress. It was a powerful, precision-styled moment that secured her place among the night’s best-dressed. 

Colman Domingo’s diamond styling added edge to classic menswear 

The evening’s host, Colman Domingo, arrived in a sharply tailored Burberry suit styled by Wayman Bannerman and Micah McDonald, the Los Angeles–based duo known for their bold, imaginative looks.

The chic pinstripe suit was accented with a teardrop-shaped Boucheron diamond brooch at the lapel and finished with bold cocktail rings across both hands, a choice that brought personality and a touch of irreverence to classic tailoring.  


Gotham Awards 2025: a masterclass in men’s jewelry styling 

As London delivered drama and bold silhouettes, the Gotham Awards offered a quieter counterpoint shaped by the intimacy of independent film. Even within that more restrained atmosphere, men’s jewelry emerged as one of the evening’s most compelling through lines. Rather than traditional watches or modest studs, many attendees leaned into natural diamonds styled with ease, confidence and intention. 

The result was a red carpet that felt less formal but more expressive, showing how diamonds are becoming an integral part of modern menswear vocabulary. 

ASAP Rocky made bold diamond drops the night’s coolest accessory 

ASAP Rocky arrived at the Gotham Awards in a clean-cut black Chanel suit, styled with black leather boots, a crisp white shirt and a black-and-white striped tie.

The look was sharp, minimal and deliberately understated, which made his choice of jewelry all the more striking. He finished the outfit with bold diamond drop earrings that brought a flash of  brilliance to the tailored silhouette, adding just enough edge to feel unmistakably his. Nominated for Breakthrough Performer for his role in Highest 2 Lowest, he delivered one of the night’s most confident takes on contemporary men’s diamond styling. 

Michael B. Jordan’s stacked diamond tennis bracelets delivered subtle red-carpet shine

Michael B. Jordan brought a touch of quiet luxury to the Gotham red carpet, pairing his sharp grey suit with two diamond tennis bracelets stacked neatly on one wrist.

The choice was subtle but intentional, introducing a thread of brilliance that caught the light without disrupting the clean lines of his tailoring. It was a refined, contemporary take on men’s jewelry dressing, showing how even the most understated diamond details can shift a look. 


What might these early red carpet moments signal for the season ahead

Across both cities, natural diamonds emerged as the defining detail of the week, appreciated not only for their brilliance but for their ability to express individuality and intention. Lily Allen’s ornate Desert diamond earrings delivered one of the boldest interpretations of the trend, while other talent turned to sculptural drops, stacked tennis bracelets and distinctive brooches to bring light and personality to their looks. 

Together, these early red-carpet moments point toward a season shaped by thoughtful styling and expressive, diamond-forward details. As award season unfolds, the interplay between bolder statements and quiet luxury suggests that diamonds — whether Desert or otherwise — will continue to define how fashion and film approach modern glamour.