DIAMOND WHISPERERS

Jewellery influencers and consultants weigh in on the exciting new phenomena that's taking the internet and the global creator community by storm

- PRATIKSHA ACHARYA

The internet had a field day when Nita Ambani stepped out wearing a necklace that featured two whole emerald bricks and over a couple dozen diamonds, with an average of 4 carats, for one of Anant and Radhika Ambani’s wedding functions. Add to that Isha Ambani’s ‘Navratna’ necklace worn at the much-talkedabout reception, which was created by master jeweller Viren Bhagat, and the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ only doubled. Nobody, however, had as good a day as the jewellery community across all forms of social media. From #JewelTok on TikTok to amateur gemologists and jewellery enthusiasts, everyone’s eyes were trained on the necks and décolletages of the Ambani wedding guests as they thronged Mumbai for the wedding of the decade. Reporting live from the shindig was Instagram’s jewellery community’s golden child, Julia Hackman Chafe.

With a family business that is steeped in jewellery, talking about gemstones comes easily to Chafe. Her consistent love for all things shiny and sparkly even scored her an invite to the wedding, which is a dream come true for any jewellery enthusiast because it’s one thing to ponder over the clarity of stones on Instagram and a whole different ballgame when you get to see it in person up close. Needless to say, Chafe made the most of it.

Ahead of the coveted invite though, Chafe spoke to us about jewellery as a promising content avenue that, more often than not, gets undermined. The irony in that sentence isn’t lost on us, but unlike other content pockets of fashion, beauty, lifestyle and more, jewellery remains quite unexplored. “At the end of the day, jewellery is a luxury commodity, and commonfolk can merely marvel at the magnanimity and brilliance of the stones because very honestly, only the top 1% of the world are capable of acquiring such jewellery,” says Chafe as she joins us from her New York apartment over a Zoom call.