Timothée Chalamet wearing the necklace he created with Cartier at the 'Wonka' premiere in London. Photo Getty
Celebrity
About That Necklace Timothée Made with Cartier
The ‘Wonka’ star debuted the one-of-a-kind creation in London
November 29, 2023—Now that the actors’ strike is over the red-carpet credits are flowing in fast and furiously. At the Gotham Awards, usually a low-key event by Awards Season standards, the stars turned up the glam. Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore both sparkled in Belperron, a rarity on the red carpet. It was like spotting two unicorns.
Meanwhile on the other side of the pond, Timothée Chalamet touched down in London for the continuation of his Wonka world tour in a pink Tom Ford suit (sans shirt) and one-of-a-kind Cartier necklace.
The statement jewel was particularly notable because the actor worked on the design with the Maison. It was another unicorn moment as Cartier is not known for doing collabs with celebrities.
There has been no official word stating this is the first time Cartier has partnered with a celebrity on a jewel, that’s not for their personal collection but for sale and publicité. Yet, I can’t recall of another teaming up with a movie star.
Cartier did do a capsule collab on the Trinity bracelet last year with fashion designer Chitose Abe of Sacai. And, of course, Cartier has a history of making commissioned pieces for movie stars including Elizabeth Taylor and María Felix. But this is different.
The official Cartier press release was pretty low-key about the collab stating, “The white gold with rotating precious stones piece was created by the Cartier Jewelry ateliers with Timothée’s creative input.”
Vogue had much more detail running an in-depth exclusive interview with Timothée reviewing the creative process of the situationship with Cartier. The story states how the actor “spent hours combing through archive Cartier imagery.” And he went to Paris twice to work with the atelier team led by Marie-Laure Cérède, Cartier’s creative director of jewelry and watchmaking,
The publication also revealed that the jewel was composed of 964 emeralds, rubellites, pink tourmalines and blue opals. The pastel gems were used to match the candy theme of the Wonka film. Black enamel, perhaps a reference to chocolate, grounds the interior of the design.
The actor references Cartier’s playful work in the 1960s in the Vogue story. It would have been wonderful to see more of the sources of inspiration from the Cartier archives, but alas there haven’t been any released as of press time.
While the details are a bit vague, I like that Cartier is loosening up the reigns and playing around the way they have done in the distant past. And it makes sense to do this with Timothée.
He has put Cartier jewelry front and center over the years. Who could ever forget when he clipped a vintage 1955 diamond and ruby brooch from the Maison on a Prada zip up jacket at the 2020 Oscars. At the 2022 Oscars, he wore a black suit (sans shirt) and positioned a Panther pendant at the center of his bare chest.
Timothée spelled out how he felt about jewelry in the Vogue story, “I’ve always just loved jewelry with a meaning, whether that’s a wired bracelet from a special trip, or something intimate I would have received from a family member.”
Or, he could have added, something made in collaboration with Cartier.
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