Misty Copeland Stuns at Oscars 2026 With 27-Carat Diamond Ring

Misty Copeland walked the 98th Academy Awards red carpet wearing a stone the size of a small world on her hand: the Jared Mpho Diamond, a 27-carat emerald-cut diamond ring that E! Online reported at approximately $1.8 million. It anchored a total of $2 million in Jared natural diamonds she wore that night, which also included additional rings and earrings from Jared Jewelry.

The emerald cut was a deliberate choice, aesthetically speaking. That particular cut, with its long rectangular facets and open table, is unforgiving of inclusions but rewards a stone of exceptional clarity with a hall-of-mirrors depth that round brilliants simply cannot replicate. On a 27-carat stone, the effect is theatrical. At that carat weight, the emerald cut also reads with clean architectural authority rather than sparkle-for-sparkle's-sake flash, which suited the restrained precision of Copeland's overall look.

That look was a custom David Koma gown that paid deliberate homage to her background as a former principal dancer. The design featured a suited bodice decorated with tutu-inspired ruffles and an ivory skirt that hugged her frame, threading ballet vocabulary through couture structure.

The diamonds arrived with pointed cultural timing. A week before the Oscars, Timothée Chalamet had gone viral for declaring that ballet and opera were outdated art forms that people no longer care about. Chalamet had also publicly acknowledged Copeland during his press tour for Marty Supreme, going so far as to give her a windbreaker from the film. Copeland's red carpet statement, $2 million of natural diamonds over a tutu-ruffled gown, offered its own answer to the relevance question without requiring a single word.

Beyond the arrivals, Copeland performed during the telecast, dancing to the Oscar-nominated song "I Lied to You" from Sinners alongside Raphael Saadiq, Miles Caton, and Buddy Guy. Few people at this year's ceremony wore the evening on their hands and then danced it onstage.

The Jared Mpho Diamond, by name alone, suggests a stone with its own identity, though Jared Jewelry has not released public certification details including color, clarity grade, or cut grade. Those specifications matter enormously at this carat weight: a 27-carat emerald-cut diamond's value swings dramatically depending on whether it sits at D-IF or dips into lower color and clarity territory. Until Jared releases official gemological documentation, the reported valuations from E! Online and Elle remain press-circuit estimates rather than certified appraisals. What is not in question is the visual impact Copeland carried down that carpet.