A Regal Legacy Reimagined
Some jewels shine. Others speak. And a rare few tell stories that span empires, vanish into myth, and return, when the time is right, to reclaim their place in the spotlight.
On fashion's most anticipated night, the 2025 Met Gala, Diljit Dosanjh made history. Wearing a custom Prabal Gurung ensemble, complete with a traditional Punjabi kurta, turban, and tehmat, he stepped onto the red carpet as the first turbaned Sikh man to attend the event. But what truly caught the world’s eye was the dazzling necklace draped across his chest, a bold tribute to the legendary Patiala Necklace.
Created by Golecha’s Jewels, this contemporary interpretation was not just an accessory. It was a statement, a reclamation, and a bridge between worlds. Drawing direct inspiration from Cartier's historic commission for Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, the necklace re-entered public consciousness in a way that felt both reverent and radically new. In that moment, past and present collapsed into a stunning, symbolic debut.
The 2025 Met Gala Moment
The 2025 Met Gala's theme, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," invited introspection and celebration of heritage. Diljit, known for bringing Punjabi culture into global spaces through music and film, embodied the theme with poetic precision.
His ensemble, styled by Prabal Gurung, fused contemporary tailoring with traditional silhouettes. But the show-stealing detail was the intricate necklace that channeled one of India's most storied treasures. Crafted by Golecha’s Jewels, it featured hundreds of hand-set stones, meticulously arranged in cascading layers that echoed the grandeur of the original Patiala piece.
With bold symmetry, regal drape, and sheer weight, the necklace conjured power and elegance. Paired with a cream sherwani and a traditional turban, the look was not just an homage to royalty. It was a powerful assertion of selfhood, culture, and presence in a space often lacking such narratives.
The necklace’s commanding presence reflected the theme itself. What is more intimate than identity shaped by memory, history, and pride?
The Original Patiala Necklace: A Maharaja’s Masterpiece
In 1928, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala commissioned Cartier to create a necklace unlike any other. Known for his flamboyant style, the maharaja had already amassed a remarkable jewelry collection, but the Patiala Necklace became its crowning jewel.
The centerpiece was a staggering 234.65-carat yellow diamond from De Beers, then the seventh largest diamond in the world. Surrounding it were nearly 3,000 diamonds and Burmese rubies, all set into five cascading platinum chains. The necklace was a triumph of Art Deco opulence and Indian ceremonial splendor, a symbol of both personal grandeur and princely power.
Worn with his ceremonial attire, the maharaja's necklace was a statement of sovereignty in colonial India. It not only reflected immense wealth, but also served as a subtle challenge to imperial aesthetics. Here was an Indian ruler asserting cultural richness through a Western luxury house’s craft.
A Vanished Treasure: The Mystery and Disappearance
Following Indian independence, the necklace disappeared from the Patiala royal treasury around 1948. For decades, it was presumed lost. Then, in 1982, the De Beers diamond resurfaced at a Sotheby’s auction, detached from its setting. Its current whereabouts remain unknown.
Years later, in the late 1990s, parts of the necklace were found by a Cartier representative in a secondhand jewelry store in London. It was missing most of its gemstones, including the iconic De Beers diamond and all of its rubies.
Cartier painstakingly restored the necklace, replacing the missing stones with synthetic diamonds and spinels. Although the result was visually faithful, the story raised complex questions about colonial legacies, restitution, and the afterlife of royal Indian jewels. The mystery of who dismantled the necklace and why remains unresolved, adding to its haunting allure.
Diljit Dosanjh: Bridging Heritage and Modernity
Diljit’s appearance at the Met Gala did more than honor a piece of jewelry. It marked a turning point in how global fashion platforms engage with South Asian identity. As an artist who moves seamlessly between Punjabi-language music, Bollywood, and international entertainment, Diljit has become a cultural ambassador of sorts.
His look was a celebration of his Sikh identity: the turban, the uncut beard, the traditional tehmat. But paired with couture and the dramatic Golecha necklace, it also made a larger point about representation, masculinity, and pride. It challenged the idea that heritage must be adapted to be stylish. Instead, heritage was the style.
The necklace on his chest stood for something much larger than ornament. It stood for visibility. It stood for history. And it stood for the right to wear legacy unapologetically.
Golecha’s Jewels: Crafting a Modern Tribute
The necklace Diljit wore was handcrafted by Golecha’s Jewels, a luxury house known for reviving traditional Indian techniques in contemporary design. The brand took on the ambitious task of channeling Cartier’s original while adding its own craftsmanship philosophy.
The design featured multiple strands, each embedded with white and yellow stones, punctuated with emerald-cut simulants to suggest the lost grandeur of the original. The necklace had a commanding silhouette, bold and structured, draping across the chest like ceremonial armor. Every detail was studied, from the precise layering to the proportional drop of the central pendant. The result was not a replica, but a tribute, a spiritual successor rather than a forensic copy.
In reimagining the Patiala Necklace, Golecha’s Jewels did not just pay tribute to Cartier. They re-indigenized it.
Cartier and the Maharajas: A Legacy Revisited
Cartier’s relationship with Indian royalty flourished in the early 20th century. Indian maharajas often traveled to Europe with trunks of loose gems, commissioning avant-garde settings from houses like Cartier, Boucheron, and Van Cleef & Arpels.
These cross-cultural commissions helped define the Art Deco movement, infusing Western design with Indian influences. The Patiala Necklace was the apex of this era, a true hybrid of Indian opulence and French craftsmanship. Even today, Cartier's aesthetic carries the fingerprints of these collaborations.
The revival of this aesthetic by a modern Indian celebrity at an event like the Met Gala shows how far that legacy has traveled. It is no longer just about colonial exchange. It is about cultural authorship.
Jewelry as a Cultural Narrative
Jewelry has always been more than adornment. In India, it signifies lineage, wealth, community, and memory. The Patiala Necklace was originally a symbol of princely authority. Its reappearance, in a modernized form, becomes a way of reclaiming that narrative.
By wearing a necklace inspired by this lost treasure, Diljit wove himself into a larger story of diaspora, legacy, and revival. He was not simply performing heritage for the cameras. He was honoring it, updating it, and anchoring it in the now.
In today’s fashion world, where symbolism carries as much weight as silhouette, this gesture resonates far beyond the red carpet. It shows that heritage is not static. It evolves with each new wearer.
A Legacy Continues
The Patiala Necklace once dazzled at royal courts. Then it vanished into mystery. And now, it has been reborn, not through exact replication, but through inspired homage.
At the 2025 Met Gala, Diljit Dosanjh brought this story full circle. In doing so, he reminded the world that jewelry can be more than decoration. It can be a declaration. A memory made visible. A legacy made wearable.
And sometimes, the most powerful jewels are the ones that tell a story worth repeating.
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Photo Credits
Image of Diljit Dosanjh at the 2025 Met Gala courtesy of @diljitdosanjh on Instagram.
