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MY COLLEAGUE BECKY STONE and I have already written up two jewelry pieces on Margot Robbie’s iconic and custom designs for her press tour for “Wuthering Heights”. But, this one is even better than her “Barbie” tour, taking on a life of its own before the movie release with jewels that just, well, are breathtaking. As an early Victorian jewelry aficionado and fan of the Brontë sisters, the replica of “The Bracelet Of Charlotte”, worn in memory of Emily and Anne after they passed away and braided with their hair as well as an amethyst center, had me gobsmacked. This type of hairwork was used in mourning jewelry of the time.
I was a literature major in college and had read about the bracelet in “The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects,” by Deborah Lutz, which I still own. At the beginning of Chapter 7, it reads, “If the Brontës’ things feel haunted in some way, like Emily’s desk and its contents, then the amethyst bracelet on the previous page made from the entwined hair of Emily and Anne is positively ghost-ridden. Over time the colors have faded, the strands grown stiff and brittle. Charlotte may have asked Emily and Anne for the locks as a gesture of sisterly affection. Or the tresses were cut from one or both of their corpses, an ordinary step in preparing the dead for burial in an era when mourning jewelry with hair became part of the grieving process.” (Side note: the book shows a black ink rendering of the bracelet). It goes on a bit more from there but let’s come back to present day. Robbie’s longtime stylist Andrew Mukamal, in partnership with the Brontë Parsonage Museum, commissioned the replica, which was crafted by Wyedean Weaving.
Screenshot from Andrew Mukamal’s IG Stories
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And the themed jewelry didn’t stop with the piece that was a testament to the Brontë sisters’ legacy. She also wore a braided choker with two antique Boucheron brooches including one with two Valkyrie heads framing a cushion-cut red garnet, circa 1900 and the other, the house’sAssyrian Lion Brooch, circa 1920 with a ruby set jaw. Robbie also wore custom earrings of garnets, diamonds and pearls from Jessica McCormack, who designed a pear-shaped diamond choker Robbie wore earlier in the tour.
A few days before, during her Paris premiere, she also wore a custom Chanel ball gown in rich burgundy and white with a Victorian-style corset top and long train that trailed behind her. The “tour” gowns are so good — I can’t wait to see the film’s actual costumes. And the pièce de resistance for this themed look was a 100-carat diamond on matching velvet fabric by Lorraine Schwartz.
Looks that are in the same romantic vein as those Robbie is wearing for the premieres are being featured by independent designers and antique dealers. Therefore, if you want to get in on the theme or trend before the film is out on February 13, you may want to check out these pieces:
Seal & Scribe’s “My Heart Is There For You” antique glass intaglio r set in a contemporary 18K gold and diamond ring.
Wartski’s Lover’s Heart Brooch with blue enamel, diamonds and pearls, circa 1870.
Zome’s purple gemstone ring with large center stone and fancy cut stones surround.
Seal & Scribe’s Ruby Cupid L’Amour antique intaglio set in a contemporary 18K gold ring with diamonds and rubies.
Kentshire’s Victorian 15K gold, rope twist chain suspending an oval locket inset with garnets in a Maltese cross motif.
Claudia Mae purple tourmaline heart pendant in 14K gold suspended from a modern take on a watch fob chain.
Heavenly Vice’s antique gold love token with engraved, entwined initials in a contemporary setting of diamonds and rubies.
Wartski’s Jeweled and Enameled Gold Bracelet by Falize, Paris, circa 1880, representing the word ‘Remember’ in medieval script.
Fred Leighton’s Georgian Ruby and Diamond Flaming Double Heart Ring.
Rowan & Rowan mourning heart locket, circa 1790 in 15K gold with a central locket compartment containing three interwoven strands of hair under crystal, within a surround of old-cut diamonds and Burma rubies.
Kentshire’s 15K Victorian gold repoussé girandole earrings with amethyst and chrysolites.
