Breaking record after record with her chart topping albums, Taylor Swift is arguably one of the most influential musicians in the world. Recently, she made it to the ranks of billionaires; a status she achieved through her music alone.
Swift’s diarist style music is laced with lyrics and visuals that have a distinctive shimmering or sparkling essence. From ‘Sparks fly’ to ‘Starlight’ to ‘Mirrorball’, Swift celebrates the glittery bling in her music, and in her concerts. This sparkly element is integral to her own persona. In her writings, she describes her subject of love as ‘Untouchable like a distant diamond sky’. She metaphorizes betrayal as ‘you wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me’. Her recent single, 'Bejewelled', a celebration of freedom and womanhood, assures the listener that “best believe I'm still bejewelled when I walk in the room, I can still make the whole place shimmer.”
Her songs do most of the talking, but so do her public appearances. While most of her music reflects her personal anecdotes, she’s too smitten by the diamond fever in real life herself. Let's walk down the ‘diamond moments’ street ourselves.
1) Look What You Made Me Do (Music Video)
"In the 'Look What You Made Me Do' music video, Swift brought to life the Hollywood-esque visual of bathing in a bath full of gems, marking a significant moment in pop culture. Here, she appears to mock the media's portrayal of her as a disconnected vamp in her ivory tower. The diamonds she dons are very much of a real deal. In fact, the most expensive ones she’s ever worn. She’s seen wearing and splashing around diamond drop earrings, layered necklaces, bracelets and rings. Each drop made up an ocean of US$10 million in total!
2) Bulgari’s magnificent serpentine
The LWYMMD music video was replete with diamond moments. This video marked Swift's comeback after a prolonged hiatus, during which she faced a barrage of hateful Twitter trends and a bulk of snake emojis used derogatorily against her. Embracing and reclaiming the 'snake' persona, Swift is seen sitting on a throne surrounded by snake motifs, as a serpentine goddess, of sorts. Adorning her neck is a massive 22-carat white and yellow gold Serpenti necklace from Bulgari. This glorious 10 carat necklace consisted of 55 marquise brilliant cut diamonds. A look was served, and it billed upto a dizzying $ 300000. Not just Bulgari, Swift spotted snake-themed rings from Lydia Courteille, Borgioni and Gilan in the same video. In her own words- it's called building castles of all the rocks thrown at you!
3) Lorraine Schwartz sapphire and diamond earrings
Dressed to the nines, we’ve seen no other shade of blue on Swift, like this one. Every time this Grammy favourite graces the event, her ensemble becomes the talk of the town. In the 2023 Grammy , Swift stunned in an all blue attire. However, the stars of the show were her massive kite shaped Lorraine Schwartz earrings. These dangly earrings featured 136 carats of natural sapphires and Paraiba tourmalines and diamonds. That evening Swift won Best Music Video for “All Too Well: The Short Film. Needless to say, this look was a total win in every sense of the term!
4) The Eras Tour Movie Premiere
At the grand premiere of the Eras Tour Movie, Taylor didn't just walk the red carpet – she glistened on it. The spotlight wasn’t only on her for her movie but equally for the constellation of diamonds she had on her. Taylor paired iconic Cartier pieces with designs from her jeweller, Cathy Waterman.
Reminiscing of Hollywood’s golden era of glamour, Taylor looked radiant in Cartier’s 1895 earrings, cradling a brilliant-cut diamond. Swift’s neckline shimmered with Cartier’s Essential Lines necklace. The Cartier indulgence continued with 2 diamond bracelets on each of her wrists. Although dainty and simplistic in appearance, the entire jewel ensemble totaled up to be around $3,00,000.
4) The Lost Ring
Well, this diamond escapade is one for the books. For VMAs 2023, the pop superstar decked her fingers alone with over $160,000 worth of jewellery. One of those rings – a vintage piece from Van Cleef & Arpels lent by Joseph Saidian & Sons – carried a price tag of a whopping $12,000.
As the night unfolded, Swift won nine trophies, yet, lost that priceless diamond ring. Moments of her realising that she has misplaced the ring have a rather meme-like quality. The irony of the situation was that it is almost funny for a star of her stature, but for anyone else, losing a vintage diamond would have spelled disaster!
In a world where less is more, Taylor Swift defies – proving there's no such thing as 'too much sparkle'. It hits differently, when her own words are etched in everyone’s mind- What’s a girl gonna do? A diamond’s gotta shine!