Dua Lipa’s emerald Bulgari necklace revives Elizabeth Taylor glamour

A serpent of emerald green gave Dua Lipa’s wedding look its pulse. She married Callum Turner in an intimate London ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall, and the jewelry choice, a Bulgari Serpenti necklace set with pear-shaped emeralds, turned a bridal suit into a statement about May birthstones, celebrity history, and personal style. The effect worked because the stone carried more than color, it carried an archive.

Why the emerald landed

Emerald is May’s birthstone, which makes it feel especially well suited to a late-spring wedding, but Lipa’s version avoided anything precious or fussy. The Bulgari Serpenti necklace brought strong green, a sculptural line, and a very specific mood: polished, confident, and a little dangerous in the best way. Bulgari presents Serpenti as a symbol of wisdom, vitality, and temptation, and those qualities explain why the motif reads as more than decoration.

That matters for bridal jewelry, where diamond expectations can feel automatic. An emerald does something different. It adds personality first, sparkle second, and in Lipa’s case it placed the gem at the center of the look rather than treating it as an accent. For anyone building a birthstone piece for a wedding or major event, that is the real appeal: the stone can tell a story before the outfit even does.

Elizabeth Taylor gave the color its legend

Part of the necklace’s power came from the name attached to the green. Bulgari says Elizabeth Taylor’s love affair with the brand began in 1962, when she arrived in Rome to film Cleopatra, and that relationship turned emerald Bulgari pieces into shorthand for movie-star excess at its most elegant. Christie’s says Richard Burton bought Taylor an emerald-and-diamond Bulgari necklace as a wedding present in 1964, and that detail still does a lot of the work. It places emerald jewelry in the emotional register of romance, gift-giving, and a marriage that became one of Hollywood’s most famous.

Bulgari also describes Taylor as one of its greatest muses in the 1960s, and the maison later re-acquired nine pieces from her private collection for its Heritage Collection after Christie’s sold the jewelry in 2011. That sale set records as the most valuable jewelry auction in history, which only reinforces how much cultural weight emerald Bulgari pieces carry. When Lipa wore a Serpenti necklace in emerald, she was not just wearing a necklace. She was stepping into a lineage that runs from Cleopatra-era Rome to Taylor’s jewel box and into modern bridal fashion.

The tailoring made the green feel modern

The other reason the look worked is that it was not styled like a traditional bridal jewel set. Lipa wore a custom Schiaparelli couture skirt suit, a sharp choice that immediately shifted the focus from romance alone to fashion authority. The tailoring gave the emerald room to speak, and the clean silhouette made the necklace feel deliberate rather than overblown.

The comparison that followed was obvious for a reason. The outfit echoed Bianca Jagger’s 1971 Yves Saint Laurent wedding suit, another moment when a bride chose tailoring over softness and looked more modern for it. Lipa’s accessories sharpened that effect even more. Her look reportedly included white gloves, Louboutin heels, and a custom Stephen Jones hat lined in gold, details that kept the outfit in the realm of polished spectacle without losing its bridal clarity. The green necklace was the hinge between all of it: vintage in spirit, current in silhouette.

How to shop emerald jewelry for bridal or event wear

The best emerald looks borrow from Lipa’s formula: one strong gemstone, one precise outfit, and no clutter. If you want the same effect without going full red carpet, start with a single focal point rather than a full suite. A pendant, a collar necklace, or a pair of earrings can all work, but the stone should be the main event.

A few practical rules make the look feel intentional rather than costume-like:

• Choose emerald when you want color with authority. It works especially well against white, ivory, black, and tailored neutrals.

• Look for a setting that frames the stone cleanly. Pear-shaped cuts and sculptural mounts feel especially elegant when the rest of the outfit is structured.

• Keep the styling disciplined. If you wear a bold necklace, let the rest of the jewelry stay quiet.

• Ask for full gemstone disclosure before you buy. Emeralds are often judged by color, but good buying also means asking about treatments, any clarity enhancement, the metal used in the mounting, and where the stone came from.

That last point matters for anyone shopping with provenance in mind. A beautiful emerald should still come with a clear story about what it is and how it was made wearable. If a piece is meant to stand in for a bridal diamond, it should offer more than glamour, it should offer transparency. The most convincing emerald jewelry feels both romantic and exact, with enough history to carry the occasion and enough restraint to let the stone do the talking.

That is why Lipa’s necklace landed so cleanly. It made a wedding look feel authored rather than borrowed, and it showed how a birthstone can become a fashion statement with real personality.