DiamondBuzz
BAFTA 2026: De Beers Group- Desert Diamonds Emerged as the Jewellery Story of the Night
At this year’s BAFTAs, the red carpet was illuminated with natural diamonds in warm champagne tones, as Desert diamonds became the most consistent jewellery signature of the evening.
At this year’s British Academy Film Awards, the red carpet was illuminated with natural diamonds worn by some of the acting world’s most beloved stars, with Desert Diamonds by De Beers emerging as one of the evening’s most consistent jewellery signatures. Nathalie Emmanuel, Gillian Anderson, Audrey Nuna, Archie Madekwe and Regé-Jean Page all stepped out wearing Desert Diamonds, marking a rare moment when multiple personalities aligned around the same diamond aesthetic.
When five influential figures lean into a shared jewellery direction in a single evening, it signals more than styling coincidence — it signals a shift. This year’s BAFTA jewellery mood moved away from classic icy white brilliance toward warmer champagne-toned natural diamonds that photographed with softness, glow and depth under flash photography.
At the 79th British Academy Film Awards in London, the jewellery story arrived not with spectacle but with tone — champagne, honey, cognac, brown and whiskey hues defining the visual language of the carpet. Across appearances, Desert Diamonds emerged as a consistent signature, favouring warmth and dimensionality over high-contrast sparkle.
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson led this direction wearing asymmetric brown and white diamond earrings by Ara Vartanian, paired with sculptural rings that complemented rather than dominated her look. Nathalie Emmanuel followed in elongated drop earrings punctuated with brown diamonds, styled alongside a bracelet and rings within the same tonal family, creating a cohesive and deliberate aesthetic.
Audrey Nuna
K-Pop Demon Hunter star Audrey Nuna introduced a sharper contemporary energy in Desert diamond ear climbers by ANANYA, leaning into structure and precision rather than excess. The brooch revival continued as Rising Star nominee Archie Madekwe paired his custom Dior suit with a white diamond brooch and Desert diamond vintage rings by Ara Vartanian.
Regé-Jean Page
Regé-Jean Page selected a fauna-inspired dragonfly brooch in warm-toned diamonds by Hirsh London, reinforcing the evening’s understated yet intentional jewellery narrative. The message was clear: natural diamonds did not shout — they held the room.
Desert Diamonds are not treated colour stories; their champagne, cognac and honey hues occur naturally, shaped by trace elements and geological conditions deep within the earth. As explored through A Diamond Is Forever, these stones celebrate natural origin and individuality rather than laboratory uniformity.
For years, diamond conversations have been framed through comparison — natural versus lab-grown, tradition versus innovation. What unfolded at BAFTA felt different: less defensive and more culturally embedded. Natural diamonds were not positioned as spectacle but integrated seamlessly into moments audiences were already watching.
Award season traditionally rewards scale — larger silhouettes, brighter stones and louder sparkle — but BAFTA 2026 suggested a new direction defined by precision over excess, tone over glare and architecture over abundance.
Natural diamonds today are increasingly worn not as ceremonial heirlooms but as personal markers, styled with tailoring and integrated into fashion narratives with intention. The philosophy behind A Diamond Is Forever has long centred on rarity, provenance and emotional permanence, and the prominence of warm-toned Desert Diamonds suggests individuality and geological authenticity are becoming the new markers of luxury.
At the BAFTAs, the brilliance remained. It simply did not need to dominate. It held the room.
DiamondBuzz
De Beers Group Sets Out Portfolio and Organisational Actions to Support Long-Term Value Creation
Company outlines strategic cost optimisation, portfolio streamlining and operational changes to strengthen resilience while positioning for long-term growth in the natural diamond industry.
De Beers Group is advancing delivery of its business streamlining by setting out a number of planned portfolio and organisational changes to ensure an efficient cost base that strengthens resilience in the near-term while enhancing future competitiveness and retaining optionality as industry conditions improve.
Since 2024, De Beers has been streamlining its business in line with its Origins strategy to reduce costs, divest non-core assets and prioritise investment in activities that create the most value. Significant progress has been made, with more than $100 million of annual overhead costs removed from the business, the sale or closure of a number of non-core assets and significant capital and cost reconfigurations to asset expansion projects.
Simultaneously, De Beers has reinvested in natural diamond category marketing to support the industry’s efforts to grow natural diamond demand, launching new large-scale campaigns and collaborating with key stakeholders across the value chain to foster industry-wide investment. Global consumer demand for natural diamond jewellery returned to growth in 2025, while natural diamond sales increased across US independent jewellers in 2025 and into Q1 2026, led by higher value diamonds and those promoted by De Beers’ Desert Diamonds marketing campaign.
On the supply side, global rough diamond production is now decreasing, with several producers closing mines during 2026. Whilst the increasing rarity of diamonds and the emerging signs of improvement in consumer demand are likely to support longer-term value creation, rough diamond trading conditions are expected to remain challenging in the near-term due to cyclical and industry-specific factors.
Consistent with recent actions to improve business resilience, De Beers intends to pause production at the Venetia mine in South Africa for two years to reduce costs while also rephasing capital expenditure on its underground project. This will involve critical infrastructure investment to enhance the capacity and efficiency of the mine, with the intention to support future production growth as business and industry conditions improve.
De Beers is engaging with stakeholders in accordance with relevant requirements and the company’s values as it moves through this process, and will both support impacted employees and continue to invest in its community and Social and Labour Plan commitments.
This proposed action at Venetia Mine follows the decision earlier this year to pause the Tuzo Phase 3 expansion project at the Gahcho Kué Mine in Canada.
In parallel, De Beers plans to reconfigure its global operating model to refocus and prioritise resources on the core operational businesses and reduce its central corporate cost base.
Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group, said:
“In line with our commitment to focus and streamline our business, we are making a number of changes to De Beers to ensure greater business resilience in the near-term, while supporting long-term value creation. We recognise the protracted challenging conditions as the diamond industry evolves, though we are encouraged by signs of consumer demand growth in the US and beyond, particularly in higher quality diamonds.
Global rough diamond supply is falling, bringing more support to the market. The changes we are making to our business are focused on underpinning our efficiency now and into the future, favourably positioning De Beers in its leadership role.”
De Beers Group will maintain current production levels through its other operations, and previous production guidance remains unchanged.
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