There are statement necklaces, and then there are necklaces built around a sapphire weighing more than 40 carats that leave people speechless. BLACKPINK's Jisoo wore the latter for Cartier, with a massive blue gem sitting front and centre.
The 31-year-old K-pop star wore Cartier's Stellara necklace during the maison's presentation of Chapter Two of its Le Chœur des Pierres High Jewellery collection in Kyoto, Japan. At its heart sits a brilliant 41.01-carat Ceylon sapphire. Surrounded by a fleet of diamonds, the structure of the luxury piece lets the sapphire shine without immediately revealing just how enormous the centre stone really is.
Jisoo paired the jewellery with a romantic, ivory off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood gown. Keeping the dress free of heavy embellishment gave the enormous blue sapphire very little competition, although the diamonds were certainly trying.
Jisoo's Sapphire Weighs 41.01 Carats
The Stellara necklace does not exactly believe in subtlety, but size is only part of what makes it such a mesmerising treasure. Cartier placed the 41.01-carat Ceylon sapphire at the centre of an openwork structure made from 18K white gold and diamonds in different shapes and sizes. Rather than arranging them into perfectly uniform rows, the diamonds spread outwards from the sapphire in geometric lines.
Cartier describes the effect as a wave-like motion travelling throughout the piece. From a distance, the diamonds almost resemble ripples spreading across water after something a lot pricier than a pebble lands in the middle. In this case, that something happens to be a sapphire big enough to be seen from across the room.
Creating that scale without making the necklace look rigid was another part of the challenge. The openwork construction allows the diamond sections to retain their graphic form while keeping the necklace flexible enough to sit around the neck.
Cartier recently shared close-up images of both Jisoo and the Stellara necklace, writing that diamonds of different shapes and sizes create 'a rhythm around this exceptional sapphire'.
The Sapphire Is the Crown Jewel
Stellara belongs to Chapter Two of Cartier's Le Chœur des Pierres collection, which puts the gemstones themselves at the beginning of the design process. Their colour, shape, and individual characteristics determine what eventually takes shape around them.
For this majestic Cartier necklace, there was hardly any chance of its sapphire becoming a supporting character. The necklace was one in a series of new high jewellery creations presented in Kyoto yet still managed to steal the spotlight in slow motion. Jisoo joined fellow Cartier ambassadors and friends of the maison at a dinner at the Kyoto National Museum, including Sofia Coppola, Haruka Ayase, Mio Imada, Nanako Matsushima, Kento Kaku, and Ryo Yoshizawa.
Jisoo's relationship with Cartier also goes well beyond borrowing an especially enormous necklace for dinner. The BLACKPINK member has served as a global ambassador for the French jewellery house since 2022.
This time, though, even one of K-pop's most popular idols had some serious competition sitting around her neck. At 41.01 carats, Stellara's Ceylon sapphire was simply not ready to be outshone by another star.
