The 65th Cannes Film Festival begins today and all are more than ready to showcase what they prepared. As that is expected from such a renowned event, it will certainly be interesting not only to admirers of big screen, but also to lovers of glamor, jewelry, fashion and sure gossips. As official partner of Cannes Festival for the 15th consecutive year, Chopard, pays tribute to Marilyn Monroe with the exhibition of photography and jewellery, on the 50th anniversary of her death.
Chopard will unveil a series of 25 unpublished photographs of the iconic Monroe, snapped by fashion photographer Milton H. Greene. Photographs were incurred 1953 year, when Greene was sent by Look magazine to Los Angeles to make them. When he was alone with Marilyn, Milton asked very politely if she would take off her clothes and put on a black sweater coat that he had brought from New York. He also asked if he could take the bandage off her ankle, which she had sprained during the filming of River of No Return. Since her ankle was very painful, she couldn’t stand, so she knelt. In the initial magazine spread in 1953 there were pictures of her sitting on the floor wearing the sweater. Considered risqué at the time, one of these images of her kneeling was first published in Marilyn Monroe by Norman Mailer in 1972.
In addition to photograps, there is a jewelry collection that honors Marilyn’s beauty designed by Caroline Scheufele, artistic director and co-president of Chopard. Inspired by Monroe’s timeless elegance, Scheufele createda necklace of openwork design, set with twenty-two heart-shaped diamonds, to the intricate lace of diamond beads. The Marilyn Monroe Tribute Set includes the necklace and matching earrings which are also set with brilliants, briolettes, and heart-shaped diamonds. The impressive set uses over 210 carats in diamonds. It will be worn by Eva Herzigova for the mounting of the steps ritual on the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival on May 16.
The exhibit, called Diamonds and glamour: Marilyn Monroe and Chopard, will be previewed in the Chopard Lounge at the Hotel Martinez, throughout the Cannes Festival, before touring the world during the rest of the year.