Timothée Chalamet shows his sweet side: when the Wonka star hit the red carpet with 1,000 gems from Cartier around his neck, it naturally kickstarted the candy jewellery trends
When Timothée Chalamet appeared during the world premiere of Wonka in London wearing a Cartier necklace sprinkled with around 1,000 gemstones, it signalled the arrival of a joyful new jewellery trend.
Deliciously bold and bright jewellery in a rainbow of sweetie shades has increasingly taken centrestage, especially noticeable after the quiet luxury aesthetic that dominated fashion and design over the past year. Gone are understated forms and pared-back embellishment. Now, celebrities are embracing playful silhouettes on the red carpet that riff on some of our favourite sweet treats for endorphin-boosting jewellery in vibrant hues.
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Chalamet, for example, wore a custom white gold necklace inspired by his titular lead role as the fabulous candymaker Willy Wonka, blinged out with heavy rows of precious gems, including verdant emeralds, rubellites, pink tourmalines and soft blue opals.
The actor, who became an ambassador for the French jewellery house in 2021, travelled to Paris to work alongside Marie-Laure Cérède, Cartier’s creative director of jewellery and watchmaking, on the design of the bespoke piece which took Cartier’s craftsmen 450 hours to make.
Along with painstakingly crafted one-off pieces in the rarest of materials, the trend has also spilled into the fine jewellery sphere. Marie Lichtenberg, a Parisian jeweller best known for her playful, hand-enamelled lockets, has put a wearable twist on the classic candy cane in yellow gold and precious stones.
Once an influential fashion editor at Elle France, Lichtenberg today draws on a remarkable career and passion for history and symbolism to create jewellery that is kaleidoscopic in colour and effortless in its wearability. Her Candy Cane collection of necklaces is some of her most joyous jewels to date. Strung on silky thread, sourced from used saris by artisans in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who hand wrap the strips into twine, each pendant is adorned with coloured enamel, with a dusting of 92 white diamonds.
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When it comes to watchmaking, it’s the Geneva-based brand Beauregard leading the sugary craze. Carving a niche with its atypical timepieces, the six-year-old label has brought a whimsical irreverence to horology, reworking classic silhouettes with fun motifs. The Lili Candy watch – “a treat on the wrist” as the brand describes it – recreates the colourful swirl of a hard-boiled sweet on its dial, in plump hand-carved segments of gems that include Brazilian carnelian, German topaz, Mexican opal, Uruguayan amethyst, Australian chrysoprase and Turkish white opal.
With warmer weather on the horizon, kaleidoscopic, feel-good jewels are surely set to take over. And with A-list approval and versatility to boot, candy gems are one trend that you’ll be rocking for a long time to come.
- Want to channel the playful jewellery trend? Marie Lichtenberg makes playful lockets, while Beauregard, Yvonne Léon and Bea Bongiasca all make candy-coloured pieces that recall boiled sweets and candy canes
- Chalamet’s deliciously bold custom design took Cartier’s craftspeople 450 hours to realise