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Earlier this month, representatives for Tiffany & Co. announced that the superstar and her rapper husband JAY-Z have been tapped to serve as global ambassadors for the brand.
The first images from Beyoncé and Jay’s latest collaboration, titled ABOUT LOVE, were unveiled, with the main photo showing the 'Formation' hitmaker posing in a black floor-length gown and sheer black gloves, with a Tiffany Diamond around her neck. At the same time, Jay is depicted sitting in front of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 artwork, Equals Pi, and gazing at his wife.
READ MORE | Beyoncé features her kids, Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir, in new Ivy Park collection which drops this week
“Worn in a campaign for the first time in history, the Tiffany Diamond weighs 128.54 carats and boasts an unprecedented 82 facets,” a brand representative stated. “Seen on Beyoncé throughout ABOUT LOVE, it is considered among the most important gemstone discoveries of the 19th-century.”
The priceless Tiffany Diamond has only been worn by three women since its discovery in 1877. Today, @Beyonce becomes the first Black woman and fourth person to wear the legendary stone. #AboutLove #TiffanyAndCo pic.twitter.com/p2j4k4qOka
— Tiffany & Co. (@TiffanyAndCo) August 23, 2021
The necklace was only ever worn by three women, and Beyoncé is the fourth and first black person to wear it.
However, not everyone was impressed by the campaign, citing the origins of the yellow diamond as a cause for concern, among other things.
Tiffany’s put Beyoncé in a diamond —“discovered” in a colonial mine in Kimberly in 1877—that no black woman has ever worn before in an ad with a never-ever-before-seen Basquiat and then pledged $2 million in scholarships & internships to HBCUs
— Zoé (@ztsamudzi) August 23, 2021
Other social media users questioned why the diamond did not attract controversy when it was previously worn by Lady Gaga at the Academy Awards in 2019.
Now, bring it back to South Africa ?? https://t.co/MogNCU7Zbf
— Karabo Mokgoko ???? (@Karabo_Mokgoko) August 23, 2021
The Tiffany diamond was also worn by Audrey Hepburn in publicity photographs for Breakfast at Tiffany’s back in 1961.
I don’t like how ppl wait for beyoncé to be involved in smthn to start petitioning a cause against it.
— ?????????????? ???? ???????n???n?? ????????????? (@foreverloreezy) August 23, 2021
Tiffany’s been around since the 1800s??? and you chose today to finally care abt where/how they mine their diamonds-
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