Every awards season, the conversation around red carpet jewelry tends to peak at the Oscars. The Dolby Theatre, the California sunshine, the shimmer of diamonds against a sea of blush and ivory gowns… it’s a familiar, beautiful picture. At The BAFTAs, held every February in London, on the other hand, it is the natural diamonds that provide the sunshine.
BAFTA’s own official styling guide advises attendees to “be prepared for the changeable English weather by wearing a luxurious stole or cape.” This guidance has launched an unintentional but highly coveted red carpet aesthetic unlike any other, and one that happens to be extraordinary for diamonds.
What makes the BAFTA red carpet different from other awards shows?
It comes down to two things: the climate and the calendar. Both shape the way people dress, and both happen to work in natural diamonds’ favor.
A rich winter aesthetic
BAFTA looks have historically leaned into richer, weightier fabrics: velvet, structured satin, heavy crepe, embellished brocade. They are not just warm choices; they are moodier ones. And mood, it turns out, is the ideal backdrop for natural diamonds to shine.
This year’s carpet was no exception. Gillian Anderson arrived in a printed Roksanda gown, its abstract brushstroke pattern moving through plum, charcoal and bruised purple tones. Against that depth of color, her Ara Vartanian asymmetric earrings featuring warm brown natural Desert diamonds completed the look rather than competed with it.
Nathalie Emmanuel and Archie Madekwe also chose Brazilian jeweler Vartanian’s work to complement their looks. For Emmanuel, elongated drop earrings punctuated with brown-toned Desert diamonds, a bracelet and ring added warmth to vintage Giorgio Armani. The sleek strapless black gown’s fine iridescent vertical beadings picking up on the sparkle of her jewelry. Madekwe arrived in a Dior cropped jacket and embroidered silk wing-collar shirt, adding a white diamond brooch and Desert diamond vintage rings to what was already one of the most considered looks of the night.
How contrast makes diamonds sing on the BAFTA carpe
Think about where diamonds typically sit at the Oscars… Against the pale champagne satins, the ivory silks, the blush tulle that dominates the Academy Awards carpet year after year. They look beautiful. But the stone and the dress exist in a similar visual register.
On the BAFTA carpet, the opposite tends to be true. Deep navy, forest green, jet black and burnished plum create an entirely different backdrop, one against which a natural diamond does not merely complement the look but anchors it. The contrast is dramatic. The diamond appears to glow from within. Regé-Jean Page understood this instinctively, pairing his look with a Hirsh London diamond dragonfly brooch set with a 0.67-carat kite-shaped natural Desert diamond1: a single, precise jewelry choice that said everything it needed to.
Why Desert diamonds belong on the BAFTA red carpet
Desert diamonds, natural diamonds in shades ranging from Sunlit white and Champagne to Honey and Ochre, have a specific relationship with the rich, dark fabrics that define the BAFTA carpet.
A Champagne or Honey Desert diamond placed against deep velvet or burnished satin creates precisely the kind of tonal warmth and contrast that makes a diamond jewelry moment genuinely memorable. Where a white diamond against a dark ground reads as sharp and brilliant, a Desert diamond reads as warm and luminous. Different, but just as striking and entirely suited to the mood of a winter London red carpet.
How Desert diamonds work with this season’s palette
The direction this awards season moved toward earthier, more considered tones: caramel, terracotta, deep ivory and gold. It is a shift that has been building for several seasons. At the 2023 BAFTAs, Cynthia Erivo wore a copper metallic Louis Vuitton gown with structured futuristic fringe2, while Michelle Yeoh chose a champagne Dior cape suit. These warmer looks point toward the kind of palette in which Desert Diamonds find their natural home: not competing with the look, but deepening it.
This year that instinct arrived in full. Audrey Nuna, one of the singers behind HUNTR/X in the film K-pop Demon Hunters, wore an oversized look from Thom Browne’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection, styled by Danyul Brown. The choice was personal for Nuna, who has worn Thom Browne to nearly every red carpet this awards season. Her family’s clothing manufacturing business worked with the brand. “One of the first orders I remember them fulfilling as a kid was Thom Browne,” she told WWD at the Grammys. “So, this brand is really important to my family’s lineage and our story of survival in this country3.” Against that considered, oversized silhouette, her ANANYA Desert diamond ear climbers read not as an accessory but as punctuation.
A ceremony with a distinct jewelry identity
Frank Everett, Vice Chairman of Jewelry at Sotheby’s, has long argued that the most successful red carpet looks begin not with the dress but with the diamond. “Let the rest of the outfit, styling, the dress, the hair, be informed by the jewel,” he told Sotheby’s4. It is a philosophy that the BAFTA carpet, more than any other awards show, seems to genuinely embody.
Look back across recent years and certain houses appear on the BAFTA carpet with a consistency that speaks to a genuine affinity with the event. Tiffany and Co. has been a recurring presence, from Emily Blunt’s Jean Schlumberger floral necklace and Blue Book collection diamond earrings at the 2024 ceremony5 to Mikey Madison’s choice of a 1948 Tiffany archival diamond bow necklace at the 2025 awards6. Bulgari has made its mark too, with Julianne Moore elevating a simple black strapless dress and white feathered stole with a statement Bulgari necklace at the 2023 ceremony7. Cartier’s relationship with the carpet goes back further still, with pieces appearing on some of the most distinct looks the event has produced.
What these choices share is intentionality. This year was no different. Gillian Anderson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Archie Madekwe, Regé-Jean Page and Audrey Nuna each arrived in natural Desert diamonds. Five different looks, five different silhouettes, one consistent instinct: that warm-hued natural jewels belong on a winter red carpet. On the BAFTA carpet in 2026, they did not feel like a trend. They felt inevitable.
Sources
- www.hirshlondon.com/dragonfly-brooch-with-natural-pink-diamond-hirsh-london/ ↩︎
- www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/baftas-2023-futuristic-fashion/ ↩︎
- www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/ejae-audrey-nuna-rei-ami-kpop-demon-hunters-red-carpet-photos-baftas-2026/ ↩︎
- www.sothebys.com/en/articles/get-red-carpet-ready-tips-for-styling-jewelry-watches-and-fashion/ ↩︎
- www.hellomagazine.com/hfm/fashion-trends/513709/baftas-2024-best-dressed-guests-on-the-red-carpet/ ↩︎
- www.naturaldiamonds.com/in/culture-and-style-in/2025-bafta-awards-best-jewellery-looks/ ↩︎
- www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/g42977206/baftas-2023-best-dressed/ ↩︎
