Close-up of the jet and diamond carved jewel centrepiece
With Spiderman 3D hitting our cinemas on July 3rd, last night’s premier in London saw the cast and other headline celebs take to the red carpet. But it was not the leading stars that stole the limelight, rather celebrity Donna Air whose LBD was transformed into a spider’s web by British fashion designer, Scott Henshall. Henshall, no stranger to creating jewel encrusted dresses for Spiderman premieres previously designed showstopping numbers for leading lady Jodie Kidd in 2002 and Samantha Mumba for her Spiderman 2 red carpet appearance.
Scott Henshall’s design sketch
Last night, however, it was all about sleek back Whitby jet. Henshall adorned the black dress with web-like strings of glistening jet beads gathered towards a magnificent spider carved in jet and set with diamonds by jewellers in house at the original Whitby Jet shop W.Hammond. We managed to catch up with Whitby Jet Store company director, Chris Sellors who elaborates on the story: "The collaboration has been an exciting experience for all involved. The project has given fantastic exposure to a stunning British product with the diamonds complementing the Whitby Jet fantastically, providing a beautiful monochromatic appeal. The piece is entirely handmade and incorporates antique Victorian Whitby Jet beads. Working with Scott – a Yorkshire born and bred designer – to transform his vision into reality has resulted in a stunning jewel piece and dress combination."
Donna Air before she took to the Red Carpet
At Adorn Insight we not only spoke about jet as a new trend in jewellery material but we featured numerous reports a while back hailing beasties as a hot subject for jewels: have to say we were spot on.
Juliet Hutton-Squire
