Queen Elizabeth and her Bvlgari

Étiquettes

Aman Hotel, Beijing, Beijing parties, belle du jour, Bulgari, Bvlgari, Choker, Cleopatra, Diamonds, Elizabeth Taylor, 高圆圆, Gao YuanYuan, Givenchy, Ink Pak, Li Danni, Maggie Cheung, Stella McCartney, 張可頤

Elizabeth Taylor was known for many things. Her voracious appetite for Life was one. Her immense talent, legendary beauty, charisma and kind heart are only a small part of her immense legacy. Actress. Lover. Wife (8 times no less). Mother. Activist.

Friend. Diva. Jewels Collector. SUPERSTAR.

The word SUPERSTAR is bestowed today to any reality TV famewhore but, really, the first and still real only SUPERSTAR was

Elizabeth Taylor. And is saddens me to bits to have to write ‘was’ instead of the glorious IS she deserves and famously embodied.

Other actresses of that era were stars known by first name only: Marilyn, Audrey, Sophia, Brigitte but none lasted longer and lived a more outsized life than E.T. Down to her last breath, surrounded by her family and children she remained a by-word for Glamour, Generosity and Beauty.

Her husband Richard Burton famously joked once that « Elizabeth knows only one word in Italian: Bvlgari ».

When Elizabeth Taylor died she asked that her extraordinary collection of jewels be sold at auction so that they could « move on » to other women and join other women’ destiny. She, who owned so many incredible pieces and was so generous with others thought it would be rude to hoard her incredible collection in her family.

In 2011 Christies held in New York the auction of Elizabeth Taylor famed jewels collection. She gave these amazing pieces to benefit her AIDS foundation in one last giving act and so many people have been – positively – affected by this generosity. Elizabeth Taylor was and is one of my favorite ICON. I loved the actress from Cleopatra or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, I greatly admired the woman and absolutely adored the jewel collector. I could write on and on about her, but will today simply tell of one recent party in Beijing where her spirit floated happily from wrist to neck, from fingers to ears. I must be the only guest who immediately read the book given about her and watched Cleopatra this weekend.

Elizabeth Taylor was addicted to jewels. Bvlgari who was one of her favorite « drug dealer » bought back some of her best pieces. The collection has been touring the world under the name « BVLGARI DIVA ».

My camera died that evening, so I ended up using mostly my iphone. It gave most of my images this intimate feel, that in the end, I felt was appropriate to celebrate Queen Elizabeth.

A bientot

One of Queen Elizabeth’ necklace. Violet, the amethyst matching her famous eyes.

Chinese actress Gao Yuan Yuan.

Gao Yuan Yuan, I had no idea how famous she is… 30 millions fans on Weibo and counting… She was surrounded on all parts and remained gracious. Standing still for a minute in the sea of people surrounding her, Gao YuanYuan and her magnificent Bvlgari necklace.