Pearls: Starring role for Isabella's ropes

Allison noticed the pearls worn by Isabella Rossellini in a recent "Finding Your Roots" segment with Louis Henry Gates Jr.. She thought it could be a Tahitian and South Sea rope; I was not sure, but what presence it had, lighting her face!

Screen shot from "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on PBS

This is Isabella's signature; she has worn layers of pearls continually since at least 2004.

What are these? I posted photos to the PearlGuide forum, where pearl lovers and experts hang out. Contributors include pearl dealers and jewellers such as Jeremy Shepherd of Pearl Paradise, farmers (Douglas McLaurin-Moreno, Sea of Cortez Pearls), gemologists and collectors. We could not have sharper eyes on the Rossellini necklaces!

PearlGuide members observed that she is wearing three necklaces in the shot at right; the consensus regarding those:

1. A rope of mixed-colour freshwaters (golden, white and dyed black). It's natural to read a black pearl as "Tahitian", but those in the mixed strand have the characteristic 'egg' and off-round shapes of CFWs. (Unless they are Tahitians, all other black pearls are dyed.)  

2. A rope of white off-rounds, probably Chinese freshwaters. 

3. A shorter rope of smaller rounds, either Akoya or high-quality CFWs. These are the pearls closest to her face, most visible at left on her neck. At left, bottom photo, they are in the centre of the layers.

 

She wears her pearls for both red carpet and casual occasions.

Top left: At Cannes, the mixed and the white FW rope with a brooch at the collar, a charming touch. She is in a classic tuxedo with a big pink shawl.

Centre left: The multicolour and FW ropes.

Bottom left: The three ropes worn casually with a sweater-coat.  

Rossellini is famous for her unfussily elegant, wholly "Isabelle" look. I looked everywhere for a shot of her in pearls against any kind of pattern; she is not a pattern woman, at least when there's a camera around. She lets her pearls transmit their glow directly, without visual clutter.

Are you thinking you need a rope? If so, then you're right! There is no one "rope length"; they begin at about 36 in./92cm; that length just grazes the waist on most women and accommodates doubling— but you need a clasp to get it over your head until you go over 40 in./102cm. 

At 52 in./132cm or more, there are more styling options: several lengths of layers, three choker-length wraps, and more. 

Sixty inches/152cm is versatile and not too heavy. Eighty inches/203cm is like wearing four twenty-inch (matinee-length) necklaces, and 100 in./254cm and up (yes, the ten-foot rope is a thing) is undeniably luxe but rather heavy. 

Here are two of Jeremy Shepherd's staff (left, Chenai; right, Allison) at Pearl Paradise wearing 100 in. ropes around their office in L.A. I love their smiles and Alison's green brogues!

Photos: Pearl Paradise

Pearl Paradise's blog shows more ways to wear a hundred-inch rope, including some higher on the neck. Their hundred-incher is currently a made-to-order piece; Pearl Paradise offer virtual appointments to discuss sizes and price. (Ask for the weight for different mm sizes and experiment by wearing some necklaces you already have—they need not be pearls—to see how that weight feels.) There is a tantalizing circled 8.2-10.5mm baroque circled Tahitian 54 in. rope on sale right now for $US 1, 752. 

The price: You're buying the equivalent of at least two—and up to six— times the length of a standard 18in. necklace, so ropes can be expensive. Consider off-round and baroque freshwaters with very good lustre and overtones. Some rings or tiny dings are acceptable; they show the organic nature of the gem, as do rippled pearls.  

If you have a 16-18 in. necklace, you can restyle it into a rope by adding more pearls, as Leslie and Alice who worked with Sarah at Kojima Company, did. That reduces the cost, especially if the new pearls are CFWs.

White or colours?

Rossellini mixes her multicoloured rope with one of serene all-whites; I'll have what she's having. Ovals make a classic just a bit different and very 'real'. A standout: the 47 in./120cm 8.5-9mm oval pearl necklace from UK pearl-specialist jeweller Winterson; price, £460. 

Photo: Winterson

 

Whether solid or mixed, colour kicks up the visual impact.  

  

Left: A beautifully-composed 43 in./190cm rope of small (5-6mm) pink, peach and silvery blue keshi  mixed with gold-plated nubbly spacer beads. I have a nearly identical rope, easy to wear, yet with plenty of presence. The colours, all natural, are beautiful. Price, $US 603 at Kojima Company and nice to know, there is a 20% sale on now.

Top right: Kojima Company 36 in./92cm rope of lustrous silver 8.5-11.4mm Tahitians. If white is not your colour,  consider these. The varied greys are ethereal as morning fog on the ocean; such pearls revive the spirit. Price, $US 1, 750 and here's where a sale really helps.  

Bottom right: And then there's... this, a special cloud of pearl bliss labelled "ombré South Sea rope". A friend, Chantal, has one (hers is from Kojima) and I got to try it on: rapture. The "Alluring Scorpio" rope shown, from Pearl Paradise, is 36 shimmery inches of 9.2-10mm yellow and white South Seas. The price is $US 3, 800.

If you would like Isabella's three-colour freshwater mix, the pearl specialists mentioned here can make that  to order, and you have the advantage of choosing the length, colour mix and ratio you prefer.