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Peaches Geldof attends the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival in diamond and pearl earrings by Chopard

Jewels at Cannes

Modern classics work best on the young and the restless

My husband and I have this crazy little hide and seek game that we play with jewelry auction catalogues. He hides them. I seek them. I haven’t come out and accused him of doing so – he would just deny it - but after 16 years of marriage I know how his mind works. He hopes that if the catalogue is out of sight, I will forget about the upcoming sale.

Fat chance. Anyway, as I was flipping through the latest Dupuis catalogue, I came upon a diamond floral necklace with ruby centers estimated to sell for $50,000 to $60,000 Cdn.

Who would buy that, I wondered? I am sure it is pretty enough, but the design is the sort I could only imagine on a  gray-haired matron.

Could the necklace work on a much younger woman, I mused?

It’s a tricky matter, because a strand of diamond florets could wind up looking like a lass is wearing her grandma’s necklace – in other words, like it doesn’t belong around her neck. And that would be a shame.

But it would also be a shame to write off the exciting tension that can form between an old piece of jewelry and a youthful wearer. So I am torn.

Peaches Geldof, however, got it just right with her choice of jewelry at the  2009 Cannes Film Festival. The 20-year-old model wore an elegant pair of pearl and diamond drops, with 840 brilliant cut diamonds cascading over white pearls. The circular, tiered design resembles an open telescope or a wedding cake. Geldof’s screen siren makeup, Hawaiian updo, blue strapless dress and elaborate tatoos provided a captivating contrast to the bold graphic lines of the earring design. Anything more romantic or classical might not have worked as well.

Then again, you can put anything on certain people and it will look good. Such is the luck of the supermodels including Claudia Schiffer. She attended the AMFAR Cinema against Aids benefit at the Eden Roc Hotel in Chopard's double strand of platinum with 59 fancy-cut diamonds, a 62-carat cuff, and a titanium You & Me ring consisting of a 7.36 carat pear-shaped ruby and a 3.70 pear-shaped diamond. Yum.