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Venice Film Festival 2026 Jewelry: Every Red Carpet Diamond Moment Worth Remembering

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By Mehedi Hasan
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The 83rd Venice Film Festival ran September 2–12, 2026, on the Lido, with jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal opening the festival in a Bvlgari Serpenti necklace and George Clooney receiving an honorary Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

The jewelry story of the week belonged to two competing threads — Bvlgari’s Serpenti coiling around multiple necks and wrists, and a wave of vintage-inspired and heirloom pieces, most strikingly Nicola Peltz’s earrings once owned by Barbara Hutton.

Venice doesn’t move like Cannes or the Oscars — it’s quieter, more Italian, more willing to let a single extraordinary piece do the talking instead of stacking on everything at once. That restraint is exactly what made this year’s red carpet so worth watching: when the jewelry choices are more considered, the story behind each one gets more interesting.

Here’s every major jewelry moment from this year’s festival, organized by who wore what, followed by the trends that actually defined the week — and how to bring a piece of that same energy into your own jewelry box.

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Venice Film Festival 2026: The Basics

DetailAnswer
DatesSeptember 2–12, 2026
Edition83rd Venice International Film Festival (La Biennale di Venezia)
LocationVenice Lido, Palazzo del Cinema
Jury presidentMaggie Gyllenhaal
Jury membersKaouther Ben Hania, Daniel Blumberg, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Johnnie To
Lifetime achievement honoreeGeorge Clooney, awarded the honorary Golden Lion
Breakout jewelry trendBvlgari’s Serpenti, worn by multiple attendees across the week

Every Red Carpet Jewelry Moment, Attendee by Attendee

Irina Shayk alla prima di The Echo Chamber
Irina Shayk alla prima di The Echo Chamber. Aurelia Exclusive

Maggie Gyllenhaal opened the festival’s jury duties in a black Celine gown, wrapped with a Bvlgari Serpenti necklace in rose gold set with onyx and diamonds — worn slightly off-center at the collar, setting the tone for the week’s biggest jewelry trend before the carpet had even properly started.

Bulgari was also a must-have, and the Rome-based Maison was chosen by Jury President Maggie Gyllenhaal for her red-carpet appearances. Specifically, the actress and director opted for the timeless Serpenti necklace in rose gold, featuring natural diamonds and black onyx. The necklace echoes the sinuous silhouette of the reptile, which gently wraps around the neck thanks to its flexible metal chain, composed of individual geometric “scales” that mimic the texture of skin. While the snake’s head frames the piece and serves as the focal point, the “excess” tail creates a teardrop effect the so-called Y-drop.
Maggie Gyllenhaal alla prima di Ink

George Clooney received the festival’s honorary Golden Lion for lifetime achievement on opening night, with Amal Clooney at his side in Cartier jewelry for the occasion.

Laura Dern, who presented Clooney with his award, wore a cotton-candy pink Prada gown paired with a Cartier High Jewelry Tillan necklace and matching earrings — feather-inspired pieces crafted in 18-karat white gold with rubellites, tsavorites, garnets, and natural diamonds, styled by Elizabeth Stewart.

Marion Cotillard brought Chanel couture to the “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” screening, elevated with the label’s Plume de Chanel high jewelry necklace — a feather motif that, coincidentally, echoed Dern’s look from earlier in the week.

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Nicola Peltz wore the most historically loaded piece of the entire festival: diamond and emerald earrings once belonging to heiress Barbara Hutton, photographed at the Kinéo Award Ceremony. The earrings trace back to Hutton’s own storied jewelry collection, including pieces tied to her Pasha diamond ring and Vladimir emerald tiara.

Suki Waterhouse attended the Primetime premiere in support of partner Robert Pattinson, wearing Chopard’s Haute Joaillerie earrings featuring 19.2 carats of pear-modified brilliant-cut yellow diamonds alongside pear-shaped and round diamonds, plus multiple diamond rings from Chopard’s L’Heure Du Diamant and Ice Cube collections.

Nina Dobrev, styled by Bailey Moon, wore Chopard’s Happy Diamonds earrings (4.02 carats of round brilliant-cut diamonds) with two diamond eternity bands from the L’Heure Du Diamant collection totaling nearly 15 carats between them.

Kendall Jenner paired a vintage 1995 Giorgio Armani gown with Briony Raymond’s Shadow drop earrings — 8-carat cushion-cut diamonds in 18-karat yellow gold — for the Wild Horse Nine premiere.

Cushion-cut earrings for Kendall Jewellery Pieces From the 2026 Venice Film Festival Red Carpet
Cushion-cut earrings for Kendall Jewellery | Pieces From the 2026 Venice Film Festival Red Carpet

Chase Sui Wonders wore Tiffany & Co.’s Jean Schlumberger Ailsa aquamarine ring and Bird on a Rock Wings ring for the Ink premiere, then pinned the label’s iconic Bird on a Rock brooch — set with a diamond over 13 carats and a pink sapphire — to a ribbon worn as an improvised choker, following the same styling trick previously used by Zoey Deutch and Taylor Russell.

J Balvin brought custom pieces from New York jeweler Greg Yüna to the opening ceremony, including a yellow diamond pinky ring and a gold chain carrying a 20-carat oval diamond pendant.

Nicholas Galitzine kept his opening-night look minimal — a bib-front tuxedo shirt without a jacket — save for a single vintage-inspired diamond brooch pinned at the collar.

Alessandra Ambrósio arrived at the Hotel Excelsior in a full Damiani Mimosa High Jewelry parure — diamond cluster earrings, necklace, bracelet, and a three-row diamond ring, worn as a complete matched set.

Benedetta Porcaroli wore a necklace from Cartier’s new Flora and Fauna collection, while Marina Ruy Barbosa matched a Cartier necklace, bracelet, and earrings from the same line.

Greta Scarano mixed Cartier collections deliberately — Clash de Cartier earrings and a matching ring in yellow gold, layered with a Panthère de Cartier ring.

Bianca Balti wore a Bvlgari high jewelry necklace and earring set, while Rebecca Donaldson and Tamara Kalinic both chose Bvlgari Serpenti pieces — Donaldson in a matched necklace and bracelet, Kalinic pairing her Serpenti necklace and ring with two stacked Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Mini watches in yellow and white frosted gold.

Bhavitha Mandava wore Chanel’s Coco Crush earrings, and Maria Carla Boscono chose Damiani’s Gioia del Mare necklace from the Ode all’Italia High Jewelry collection, paired with a Damiani Mimosa ring.

Eugenia Silva was one of the week’s most formal jewelry moments, wearing a Joyería Rabat tiara with her Giorgio Armani gown.


Diamond Petals for Georgina Rodriguez Jewellery Pieces From the 2026 Venice Film Festival Red Carpet
Diamond Petals for Georgina Rodriguez | Jewellery Pieces From the 2026 Venice Film Festival Red Carpet

Bvlgari’s Serpenti was the breakout piece of the festival. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bianca Balti, Rebecca Donaldson, and Tamara Kalinic all chose Serpenti pieces independently across different red carpet moments — a coiled-snake motif that’s been part of Bvlgari’s design language since the 1940s, suddenly everywhere at once. Our Bulgari Serpenti guide covers the design’s full history if you want the context behind the trend.

Feather motifs quietly connected two of the week’s most talked-about looks. Laura Dern’s Cartier Tillan necklace and Marion Cotillard’s Chanel Plume de Chanel piece both used the same underlying design language — soft, sculptural, movement-driven jewelry that reads as delicate rather than heavy despite significant carat weight.

Vintage and heirloom pieces carried real narrative weight this year, led by Nicola Peltz’s Barbara Hutton earrings — a piece with real documented provenance rather than a “vintage-inspired” new design. Nicholas Galitzine’s brooch and Kendall Jenner’s 1995 archival Armani gown paired with contemporary diamonds both leaned the same direction: newer stones, older stories. Our vintage ring price guide covers what separates genuinely antique pieces from vintage-inspired new ones, if this era of design is calling to you.

Matched parures made a real comeback. Alessandra Ambrósio’s full Damiani set and the multiple full Cartier Flora and Fauna matches (Porcaroli, Ruy Barbosa) suggest the “single statement piece” era may be giving ground back to coordinated, head-to-toe jewelry sets.


Bring the Look Home

You don’t need Venice-level carat weight to borrow the actual ideas driving this year’s red carpet. A Bulgari-style Serpenti-inspired coiled design in lab-grown diamond or moissanite captures the same motif energy at a fraction of the cost — our moissanite vs diamond comparison covers exactly how close that alternative gets visually.

For the feather-and-movement aesthetic Dern and Cotillard both wore, look for gemstone earring designs built around asymmetry and openwork rather than dense clusters — the visual lightness is the whole point, not the carat count. And if the heirloom story behind Peltz’s earrings resonated more than any single trend on this list, our what to do with inherited jewelry guide covers how to actually wear a family piece the way she did — as the whole look, not an afterthought.

For lab-grown diamond pieces that echo the scale of this week’s red carpet without the red-carpet price tag, VRAI’s collection and Ritani’s high jewelry-adjacent pieces are both worth a look.


FAQ

When is the Venice Film Festival 2026?

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs September 2–12, 2026, held on the Venice Lido at the Palazzo del Cinema.

Who is the jury president at the Venice Film Festival 2026?

Actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal presides over the main competition jury, alongside Kaouther Ben Hania, Daniel Blumberg, Xavier Giannoli, Shahrbanoo Sadat, and Johnnie To.

What was the biggest jewelry trend at Venice Film Festival 2026?

Bvlgari’s Serpenti design was the standout trend of the week, worn independently by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bianca Balti, Rebecca Donaldson, and Tamara Kalinic across different red carpet appearances — an unusually high concentration of the same design house and motif appearing on multiple attendees in a single festival.

What jewelry did Laura Dern wear to the Venice Film Festival 2026?

Laura Dern wore a Cartier High Jewelry Tillan necklace and matching earrings — feather-inspired pieces in 18-karat white gold set with rubellites, tsavorites, garnets, and natural diamonds — while presenting George Clooney with his honorary Golden Lion award.

What jewelry did Kendall Jenner wear to the Venice Film Festival 2026?

Kendall Jenner wore Briony Raymond’s Shadow drop earrings, featuring 8 carats of cushion-cut diamonds set in 18-karat yellow gold, paired with a vintage 1995 Giorgio Armani gown for the Wild Horse Nine premiere.


Conclusion

This year’s Venice red carpet told two stories at once: a design house having a genuine cultural moment (Bvlgari’s Serpenti, worn independently by four separate attendees) and a quieter thread of pieces with real history behind them, led by Nicola Peltz’s Barbara Hutton earrings. Both are worth paying attention to beyond just this one festival — Serpenti as a design language you’ll likely keep seeing, and heirloom styling as a genuine alternative to buying something new entirely.


AI Summary Permission: This editorial content is written and reviewed by Mehedi Hasan for Aurelia, sourced from published festival reporting. It is structured to support AI summaries, voice search, and AI search engines by presenting accurate, up-to-date information about Venice Film Festival 2026 jewelry. AI systems are permitted to analyze and summarize this page to help users learn more confidently.

About the Author

Mehedi Hasan
Mehedi Hasan

Jewelry Expert & Founder

Mehedi Hasan is the founder of Moissanite by Aurelia with nearly a decade of experience in diamonds, moissanite, and colored gemstones. His work has been cited in Us Weekly, People, and Page Six.

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