THE 1980s has become a source of inspiration, influencing both jewelry and fashion designers today. So it’s no surprise that we are seeing celebrities wearing pieces from renowned jewelers and houses of that time period.
Gal Gadot is one of those celebrities. She stood out at the 2025 Oscars, which was primarily a white-metal and diamond affair, in a bold yellow gold choker, worn with her strapless red Prada gown. The necklace had a fan-like effect with multiple sections that overlapped and were edged in engraved platinum and 433 diamonds. It was one of the jewelry stars of the evening.
I have long been a fan of Angela Cummings. Like Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso, she was one of the women designers at Tiffany & Co. who defied convention and thoughtfully designed pieces that were original and inventive yet highly collectible and wearable.
Cummings began her tenure at Tiffany in 1968 as a design assistant under Donald Claflin. In 1975, she started designing exclusively under her own name for the company. And in 1983, she struck out on her own. I interviewed her several times, and in 2002, one year before she retired, she talked about her evolution.
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“Developing your craft is the same as developing as a person,” Cummings explained. “You learn, you gain more knowledge as you go, you add, subtract, try to perfect and eventually you come closer to achieving your goals. But always within the framework of who you are, without losing yourself in the process.”
She continued, “My first years at Tiffany provided an incredible learning experience. Early on I broke from the traditional diamond jewelry and pearl designs.”
Cummings’s quest to create new, interesting proportions in jewelry prompted her inlay designs, which became a mainstay over the years. She continued to develop fresh applications, patterns and silhouettes that included her original take on nature-inspired designs.
“I had always been fascinated by horticulture and then started gardening as a hobby,” she said. “I wasn’t interested in the tea rose; I was interested in the wild rose with thorns to protect it.”
Her affinity for plants influenced many of her floral, vine and leaf motifs, which were always designed with a fluid, freeform feeling. Even her links never seemed static, they intertwined and moved the way nature intended. When she left Tiffany, she launched her partnership with her husband, Bruce Cummings, a gemologist who had also worked for Tiffany, and opened her first Angela Cummings Fine Jewelry Boutique within the department store Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue. That led to other boutiques at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.
In describing her progression over the years, Cummings said, “The most important lesson that I’ve learned is to look at everything like you are seeing it for the very first time rather than using your memory. If you do that, you will continue to evolve as a person and a designer.”
Although she retired in 2003, she returned 10 years later for a 25-piece collaboration with Assael.
The necklace that Gadot wore displayed the rare talent, ingenuity and technical knowledge that Cummings exhibited while at Tiffany and throughout her career.
