From Marilyn Monroe to Rihanna; women’s love affair with diamonds has survived the decades. After Napoleon’s diamond and sapphire engagement ring for his beloved Joséphine sold recently for a huge sum, Felicity Capon charts the stone’s enduring appeal and analyses its symbolic meaning in love, literature and life.
What is it about diamonds that are so enchanting? And why do women still covet them so much?
Bright, brilliant, sparkling diamonds have inspired us for generations; their rarity, value, the way they delicately reflect light, while being the hardest of any bulk material. And, of course, there is their association with romantic love, which has seeped into our culture and popular conscience.
Bright, brilliant, sparkling diamonds have inspired us for generations; their rarity, value, the way they delicately reflect light, while being the hardest of any bulk material. And, of course, there is their association with romantic love, which has seeped into our culture and popular conscience.
In fictional novels, protagonists usually have a voracious appetite for the stones which lead to danger or disappointment; they become prey to an obsession not just confined to women.
King Solomon’s Mines, H. Rider Haggard’s popular adventure story written at the height of the British Empire, was written with boys very much in mind: “I can safely say that there is not a petticoat in the whole history,” Haggard boasts of the storyline.
Elizabeth Taylor’s love affair with jewels was legendary, almost as legendary as her seven marriages. Many men bought her fabulous diamonds, yet none could guarantee her everlasting happiness.
Even she understood the underlying message of the cruel diamond, recognising in their shine her own frail immortality in comparison to the brilliance of her beloved jewellery.
Michael Wainwright, the managing director of Boodles, concurs: “Diamond engagement rings are still as popular as ever. However, there has recently been a renaissance in sapphires and rubies in the UK (though strangely not emeralds) which will certainly have been impacted by the ‘Kate Middleton effect.”
Still, for some, nothing will compare to the sparkling brilliance of a diamond. Yet for all their dazzling beauty and their association with enduring love, it is quite extraordinary how, through popular culture, they have become tinged with a haunting sense of dangerous obsession, loss and mortality.
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