From Moulin Rouge! to the Oscars: The Long History of Swarov

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Dmooreepy17
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At the Academy Awards this Sunday, Hollywood’s Dolby Theater will shine. Not just from all-star power—although Timothée Chalamet really is something, isn’t he?—but from the 45 million men's swarovski crystal bracelet decorating the stage. The proscenium has taken 3,250 hours to make, and when completed, will weigh 15,000 pounds. “This year’s sparkle,” Nadja Swarovski assures Vogue, “is truly like no other.”

She’s not exaggerating. By sheer size and scale, this Swarovski crystal stage will be the most grandiose and over-the-top setup in the award show’s history (2017, for reference, had a combined total of 230,000 crystals). But before there were tens of millions of crystals at the 2018 Oscars, there was the Blonde Venus.

It was in this 1932 film that the Austrian crystal company made its silver-screen debut, embellishing Marlene Dietrich’s costumes and jewelry. It caused a dazzling domino effect: soon after, every Hollywood starlet was swathed in Swarovski. There was Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and a slew of very shiny Bond Girls. But perhaps it was Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s that best solidified Swarovski's role in cinema history—the tiny tiara worn by Hepburn during many key scenes of the movie (and the film's ubiquitous movie poster) featured Swarovski earrings outlet sale.

However, it wasn’t until the millennium that Swarovski made the transition from wardrobe to set-design. The director, and ever the showman, Baz Luhrmann used the company to bedazzle his 2001 film Moulin Rouge! (he would later use Swarovski in the creation of The Great Gatsby’s chandeliers). And a year later, they popped up in the set of James Bond: Die Another Day. Yet the true shock-and-awe moment was in Dreamgirls—the curtains behind the Dreamettes and their show-stopping numbers both glittered with hundreds of crystals.

Swarovski’s role in 2006’s Dreamgirls caught the eye of J. Michael Riva, the production designer for that year’s Oscar stage. “His vision to create a show-stopping backdrop for the Dreamgirls medley performed by Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose, and Keith Robinson was the catalyst for our collaboration,” Swarovski said of its first commission for the Academy Awards. The result was a dazzling 34-foot high curtain, embedded with over 50,000 crystals Swarovski necklace sale australia.

The company was used again at the 2009 Oscars, and the rest is (a very shiny) history—filled with starburst-inspired winner's circles, a crystal forest backdrop, and lots of crystal stars. This year will mark Swarovski’s 11th Oscars collaboration.

2018’s set was dreamed up by veteran production designer Derek McLane, who’s done the job since 2013. His vision for the space is partially inspired by Swarovski’s own Crystal Dome, a kaleidoscope-like structure located in Wattens, Austria. “He visited our headquarters and met with specialists from our team to look at samples and gain a better understanding of how our various crystal designs enable reflectivity,” says Swarovski. “Our work with Derek began in October with his trip to our headquarters in Wattens and led all the way up to installation in February, when final tweaks to the crystal set pieces were made.”

So this Oscar Sunday, as winners ascend the sparkling stage, take note; though the twinkle in their eyes may not be Swarovski rings outlet sale, just about everything else around them will be.
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