By Ashley Davis
Ashley.Davis@nationaljeweler.com

Jennifer Lopez isn’t shy when it comes to rocking red carpet jewelry. At the 2019 Met Gala she wore Harry Winston’s “Purple Dragon Necklace.” (Image courtesy of Worldwide PR/Social Media)

The world’s chicest costume party took place this week, when the annual Costume Institute Gala, also known as the Met Gala, returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

This year’s theme was particularly fun. “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” inspired by Susan Sontag’s seminal essay of the same name, brought out all manner of fashion shenanigans (think chandeliers as gowns and light-up dresses).

Statement-making clothing doesn’t always leave much room for fantastic jewels. Luckily, more than a few stylists thought well enough to pile on the bling.

Here are five looks to delight jewelry lovers.

Lupita Nyong’o sported a colorful array of Bulgari jewels. The centerpiece was a 41-carat emerald and gold necklace with amethysts, rubies and diamonds from the house’s archives, circa 1989.

She wore a bracelet in the same colorful palette, made of gold, emeralds, amethysts, rubies, cultured pearls and diamonds, from 1988.

Other archival pieces were a platinum and gold ring with sapphires, rubies and diamonds; platinum ring with emeralds, sapphires and diamonds; gold earrings with emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds; and a gold ring with emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds; all circa 1960.

Fitting the theme’s maximalist mood, Nyong’o didn’t stop there.

She also wore two high jewelry rings—a 12.85-carat cushion-cut cabochon pink tourmaline set in white gold with emeralds and diamonds, and a 10-carat cushion-cut cabochon sapphire with emeralds and diamonds set in rose gold.

The Met Gala happens the first Monday in May, and, like Nyong’o, actress Lily Collins gave a nod to the month by complementing her Valley of the Dolls-esque garb and hairstyle with some emerald jewelry.

Collins sported a Cartier emerald, rock crystal, onyx, black lacquer and diamond necklace in platinum, as well as matching emerald, rock crystal, onyx and diamond earrings in platinum. Both were from the house’s “Magnitude” high jewelry collection.

She also wore a “Pluie de Cartier” ring in 18-karat white gold with diamonds.

Channeling a glamorous flapper, Jennifer Lopez’s Harry Winston “Purple Dragon Necklace” featured a 65.32-carat purple sapphire and 129.48 carats of round brilliant, pear- and marquise-shaped diamonds, all set in platinum.

That wasn’t all. The actress and singer complemented the jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind piece with an array of platinum and white diamond jewelry: vintage chandelier earrings with 29.59 carats of diamonds from 1972; a 67.22-carat diamond bracelet; a 66.82-carat bracelet; a ring with 15.99-carat cushion-cut diamond; and a ring with 2.4-carat diamond.

Kendall Jennifer is the face of Tiffany & Co.’s spring 2019 campaign, so it was no surprise to see the model decked in the house’s jewels.

To match her orange gown, she rocked a necklace with 19 Imperial topazes weighing over 75 carats and more than 40 radiant-cut white diamonds weighing over 11 carats. She topped off the look with matching earrings with over 23 carats of Imperial topazes, accented with round brilliant white diamonds. Both pieces are from Tiffany’s 2019 Blue Book collection.

Lady Gaga proved that, even with film awards season over (the actress picked up an Oscar for Best Song for the hit “Shallow” from film “A Star is Born” in February), 2019 is still her year.

The multi-talented star wasn’t set to perform at the gala, but perform she did, changing outfits as she descended the Met steps’ pink carpet.

But her nearly $2 million of Tiffany & Co. jewelry stayed on throughout the act. Gaga wore platinum and diamond stud earrings; a 6-carat pink sapphire and diamond ring in platinum; 5-carat sapphire ring with diamonds set in platinum; 5-carat spinel and diamond ring in platinum; and 13-carat rubellite and diamond ring in platinum.