The perfect necklace at the Oscars? One that sits on your collarbone

What came first—the strapless gown or the clavicle-defining necklace? It’s a chicken-and-egg situation but it’s one puzzle we’re happy to ponder. Because what better pairing with your glamorous Valentino gown or a pristine Chanel number than a collarbone filled with diamonds. At the Oscars this year, there were a few lariats and multi-chain strands, but one key necklace silhouette emerged as a hero: the kind that sits snugly on a sharp, toned collarbone and practically shouts the hours you’ve spent at the gym. Both Anne Hathaway and Priyanka Chopra set the bar for the trend in their Bvlgari necklaces, both from the Roman brand’s new 150-piece Eclettica collection.

Hathaway, who is an Oscars regular and is busy promoting The Devil Wears Prada 2, opted for the brand’s Neoclassical Starlight High Jewellery platinum necklace that’s centred around an 8.02-carat pear-cut fancy vivid yellow diamond prized for its rare colour. She paired it with a pair of chandelier earrings set with similar yellow and white diamonds. The necklace was inspired by the work of 18th-century Italian sculptor Antonio Canova, who was famous for his marble figures that depicted characters from antiquity. While the connection between his work and this necklace might not be so obvious, it was his ability to create perfectly balanced, harmonious frames that resonated with the design team at Bvlgari. Sitting at the sweet spot on her collarbone, the necklace is somewhere between a choker and a pendant situation, but one that doesn’t take away from her glamorous red carpet look.

Chopra showed off the Serpenti Illusio High Jewellery necklace, a white gold creation with a 14.01-carat antique cushion-cut sapphire from Madagascar at its heart. It’s not as big as the mega 241.06-carat emerald she wore last year to the Met Gala, but it also comes with sapphires, pavé-set diamonds, and over 130 emeralds. Chopra kept the rest of her jewellery minimal (relatively), opting for diamond studs and a 14-carat emerald-shape diamond ring, both also from the high jewellery collection.

Not to be outdone, pop star Dua Lipa wore two clavicle-grazing necklaces over the course of the night—the first a diamond Serpenti necklace, and the second a more unusual diamond-studded Vimini necklace whose gold and steel links mimic the movement and scales of a snake. Unlike a neckpiece with a hanging pendant, this slightly cropped style is almost architectural, filling the open space left behind by a strapless gown without shouting for attention. Think of it as the red-carpet equivalent of perfect punctuation: small, deliberate, and impossible to ignore once you notice it.