Inside Greenwich St. Jewelers’ Epic Night at the Oscars

There are two ways to make the case for estate jewelry. You can arrange the pieces under glass and tell their stories. Or you can wear them to the Oscars.

Jennifer Gandia, co-owner of the Gem Award-winning Greenwich St. Jewelers, chose the latter. Along with her sister and co-owner Christina Gambale, Gandia attended the 2026 Academy Awards in person, inside the Dolby Theatre, rubbing shoulders with A-listers in what amounted to a once-in-a-lifetime experience shared between the two siblings. It was also, quietly, a live proof of concept for everything Greenwich St. Jewelers believes about period pieces: that they belong in the world, not behind glass.

The Look That Started With a Film

The call about the Oscars came just three weeks before the event, a breakneck timeline for deciding what to wear to any black-tie evening, let alone one as important as the Academy Awards. It was made even more complicated by the fact that the 2026 Oscars fell on the same weekend as the Gem Awards, held on Friday, March 13, meaning Gandia had to coordinate two separate evening-wear game plans simultaneously.

She anchored both around a clear vision. "There was so much inspiration from the history of Hollywood and women like Josephine Baker, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett, and Tilda Swinton wearing tuxes to Hollywood events," she says. "So I thought, 'That's what I want to do.'" The specific touchstone was Julie Andrews in the 1982 film Victor/Victoria, and Gandia styled herself entirely, threading her tuxedo silhouette with jewelry chosen to command a room.

Because the neckline of her ensemble kept her neck covered, Gandia prioritized statement earrings: "I wasn't showing my neck, so I wanted really big showstoppers," she explains. The earrings were borrowed from a vendor friend, but the rings came directly from Greenwich St. Jewelers' own estate collection. Two pieces in particular told the story of the store's curatorial approach: one set with a lavender star sapphire, the other a bombe style from the 1950s with invisibly set sapphires and diamonds.

The bombe ring alone is a study in midcentury technique. Invisibly set stones, a method refined by Van Cleef & Arpels in the 1930s, requires each gemstone to be cut with a precise groove so that metal prongs disappear entirely, leaving an uninterrupted surface of color. Finding a well-preserved example from the 1950s, with its original setting intact and stones still perfectly flush, is the kind of discovery that separates a serious estate collection from a casual resale inventory.

Gandia also wore a platinum art deco watch that had belonged to her mother, and a bracelet gifted to her by her parents, the original founders of Greenwich St. Jewelers. "Some pieces were our own, some were vintage from our estate collection in the store, and some pieces we borrowed from vendor friends," she says.

Christina's Vintage Find From The RealReal

As Gandia was assembling her own ensemble, she also took on the task of sourcing attire for Gambale. The RealReal delivered a beautifully draped, strapless Badgley Mischka gown that "fit so beautifully on her," Gandia says of the vintage design. The choice was also a nod to a particular moment in red-carpet history: a throwback to the era when European couture houses competed less and American brands like Badgley Mischka were genuine red-carpet powerhouses. That Gambale's stylist for the evening was her sister, and that both their gowns were either vintage or pre-owned, underscored a point the store has been making explicitly for years.

The Estate Collection Behind the Rings

The two rings Gandia wore to the Oscars were not accidental selections. They came from Greenwich St. Jewelers' Estate Capsule, a limited collection of 54 vintage, antique, and estate jewels spanning multiple eras including Victorian, midcentury, and art deco that the store released in September 2025. The capsule represented the first time the TriBeCa boutique had formally curated estate inventory under its own label, a significant step for a store that built its reputation on contemporary fine jewelry and custom design.

Gandia framed the launch in terms of the broader cultural moment: "We are in the midst of celebrating 100 years of art deco jewelry, and more than ever, people are drawn to the archival styles and the artistry of craft from the past." Her definition of what makes estate jewelry compelling goes beyond aesthetics. "Estate jewels embody what we call conscious luxury," she says. "They are rare, storied pieces, crafted to last, and already loved."

What Retailers Check Before a Piece Leaves the Store

The Oscars night illuminated the operational reality behind lending or showcasing estate pieces at high-profile events. Before any signed or period piece moves into the public eye, whether worn by the store's own owners or placed with a stylist, a responsible estate retailer runs through a short but non-negotiable checklist: visible maker marks must be legible and consistent with the claimed maker and period; condition must be assessed for loose stones, worn prong tips, or fragile settings that could fail under the stress of an evening out; and provenance documentation needs to be current and accessible. For significant pieces, short-term insurance riders cover the loan period specifically, with valuations tied to replacement cost rather than purchase price.

The lavender star sapphire ring, for instance, would require confirmation that the star, the optical phenomenon caused by rutile needle inclusions aligned along the crystal's symmetry, is centered and sharp. A wandering or weak star indicates either a poorly oriented cut or, in suspicious cases, a synthetic stone. The bombe ring's invisibly set stones would be checked for any that have shifted or lifted, since the groove-setting system, while visually seamless, has no secondary retention mechanism if a stone's groove is worn.

What This Means for Collectors Considering Consignment

The Greenwich St. Jewelers Oscars night carries a practical message for collectors who own significant signed or period pieces. All signs point to 2026 as a pivotal year for estate and vintage jewelry, with retailers, dealers, and shows investing heavily in the public's fascination with signed period pieces and collector-quality jewelry. Red-carpet visibility, even when worn by the retailer rather than a celebrity, generates documented exposure that travels through social media and trade press long after the event ends.

Consigning a notable piece with a retailer that has this kind of platform gives the piece a provenance update: post-Oscars documentation that it has been evaluated, authenticated, and considered worthy of a high-profile setting. For a collector holding a signed midcentury brooch or a period ring with a strong maker's mark, that association has tangible value at auction and in private sale.

Greenwich St. Jewelers celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026, a milestone that gives the store's estate ambitions particular weight. The family business that Carl and Milly Gandia opened on Greenwich Street now carries their legacy through a second generation that wore vintage rings under the Dolby Theatre's chandeliers. Those two rings, the star sapphire and the 1950s bombe, did not simply complement an outfit. They made an argument, and it landed.