Damson Idris Debuts Self-Designed 7.4-Carat Blue Diamond Brooch at 2026 Oscars

Blinding under the Dolby Theatre lights on March 15, a single brooch on Damson Idris's custom Prada navy suit told three stories at once: a film nomination, a tribute to his mother, and the debut of a jewelry label the 34-year-old British-Nigerian actor built himself.

The piece, designed by Idris under his fine-jewelry house DIDRIS and worn on the breast pocket of his double-breasted jacket, centered on a heat-treated natural marquise blue diamond weighing 7.41 carats. Two white marquise diamonds and two pairs of triangle diamonds flanked the center stone, with 42 natural white diamonds surrounding the composition and carrying a combined weight of 6.38 carats. The central blue diamond was sourced by Yeraua, a London-based colored diamond specialist, with each stone certified through the Kimberley Process, the UN-supported international scheme designed to keep conflict diamonds out of the supply chain. Idris told PEOPLE that provenance mattered to him specifically because of his African background — a consideration that shaped the sourcing from the outset.

To move the design from concept to wearable object, Idris worked with Theo Ioannou, founder of CAD-MAN, a bespoke jewelry studio operating inside London's Goldsmiths' Centre. The collaboration is notable: rather than calling on a storied maison or pulling a piece from a brand archive, as most celebrities do on awards-season red carpets, Idris arrived wearing something he originated. "I made it specifically for tonight," he told PEOPLE's Janine Rubenstein. "There's a little F1 engraved in there, as good luck."

That engraving references F1: The Movie, the Brad Pitt and Idris racing drama that debuted in June 2025 and arrived at the 98th Academy Awards with four nominations: Best Picture, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. The film, which follows fictitious veteran driver Sonny Hayes alongside Idris's rookie Joshua Pierce, ultimately won Best Sound. The brooch, in that context, functioned as a talisman as much as an accessory.

DIDRIS, which Idris launched in 2025, pays tribute to his mother. The brand's Oscars debut carries the weight of that dedication, too: the label's name is derived from his own surname, and the brooch was not conceived as a commercial product but as a singular object made for a singular night. Whether DIDRIS will offer pieces publicly remains an open question, but the brooch's technical precision — the specificity of the marquise cut, the deliberate sourcing through Yeraua, the Goldsmiths' Centre production pedigree — signals ambitions well beyond a celebrity vanity project.

Idris also sent two pieces from DIDRIS to Rubenstein to wear during the ceremony, extending the label's red-carpet presence beyond his own lapel and suggesting that, for its founder, the 98th Oscars served as more than a good-luck ritual. It was a quiet, very intentional launch.