The problem with most red carpet jewellery is that it has not been considered in relation to anything. A diamond necklace is produced, a diamond necklace is placed around a neck, the neck happens to be wearing something from Valentino. Whether the necklace has any relationship to the garment (whether it helps the silhouette or competes with it, whether it creates a focal point or dissolves one) is apparently not the question being asked. The question being asked is: which brand is paying?
Zendaya's press tour for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which ran from London to Paris between 5 and 8 July, is worth examining precisely because it asks a different question. Law Roach, who has been dressing Zendaya for over a decade and whose jewellery instincts have become inseparable from hers, is making decisions here that have an internal logic. You can follow the reasoning. The jewellery is doing something specific in each look, and what it is doing changes look by look. That is rarer than it should be.
In Brief: Across five looks over four days in London and Paris, Zendaya and Law Roach deployed jewellery as architecture rather than accessory — using Baron London ancient disc earrings to anchor a Jacquemus photocall look, a Chopard diamond necklace draped over a Schiaparelli breastplate to extend rather than interrupt the sculptural line, Chopard chandelier drops to carry weight upward into a Valentino look that left its neckline bare, and Fope minimalism to sit quietly below a Philip Treacy gold lace headpiece without competing. The Paris premiere brought Messika and 800 hours of Louis Vuitton lace into conversation. Each decision was made in relation to something specific. This is what jewellery direction is supposed to look like.
5 July, London Photocall: Baron London and the Ancient Anchor
The press tour opened at the IET Building on Savoy Place with a custom ivory Jacquemus column dress, halter neck, pom-pom trim at the hem, backless. Law Roach has described it as "inspired by the essence of Athena," which is the thematic through-line of the whole tour; Zendaya plays Athena in the film, and every look nods to that in some way.
The earring choice is the interesting decision here. Rather than reaching for something new in yellow gold, Roach sourced Baron London ancient disc earrings made from actual 1st century BCE artefact discs: worked gold from somewhere between two thousand and two thousand five hundred years ago. The warmth of the ancient metal against the ivory Jacquemus reads differently than contemporary gold would. Contemporary gold would have been pretty. Ancient gold is doing something else: it is the same era as Athena, which is not a coincidence, and it has a patina that no new piece can manufacture.
It also anchors the look in a way a lighter earring wouldn't. The ivory column dress is simple enough that the earrings have to carry visual weight; they do it without fussiness.
6 July, London World Premiere (Red Carpet): Schiaparelli and the Chopard Necklace
Eight hours before Zendaya walked the red carpet at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, the closing look from Schiaparelli's Fall 2026 Haute Couture collection walked the runway in Paris. Law Roach was in the front row. The flight from Paris to London takes under an hour.
The dress is a structural breastplate (moulded white couture referencing both Athena's armour and Schiaparelli's surrealist body-as-sculpture tradition) over an ombré beaded fringe skirt that moves from ivory to mirror-silver. The garment is doing two things simultaneously: the top is rigid and architectural, the bottom is liquid and kinetic.
The jewellery solution for this is counterintuitive. A piece hung at the collarbone would compete with the breastplate's moulded lines. Roach instead used a Chopard multi-strand diamond necklace draped over the breastplate itself, not beneath it; the diamonds lying on top of the moulded white bodice rather than against skin. The effect is that the necklace reads as part of the garment rather than separate from it. A 12.37-carat central diamond and 76.11 carats of surrounding stones sounds like a great deal of jewellery; draped on a Schiaparelli breastplate, it reads as the finishing detail of a single object. Stud earrings only, letting the necklace do its work.
This is one of the more precisely executed jewellery placements I have seen on a red carpet. The Schiaparelli look required something that would extend its logic rather than interrupt it, and the Chopard necklace placed over rather than under the bodice does exactly that.
6 July, London World Premiere (Inside): Valentino and the Principle of the Bare Neckline
Later the same evening, inside the premiere, Zendaya changed into Valentino Fall 2026 by Alessandro Michele — a sage green bralette constructed to resemble intertwining laurel leaves, over a draped taupe skirt with a Grecian tunic quality.
The bralette construction is complex. The strap and neckline detail has its own organic visual language: the leaf forms, the layering, the botanical intricacy of how Michele built the top. Adding a necklace into this would have produced exactly the kind of visual chaos that most red carpet jewellery creates by default. The neckline area was left completely bare.
The entire jewellery weight was placed at the ear instead: Chopard Haute Joaillerie chandelier drops, brilliant white diamonds in a cascading configuration. The bare neckline creates the negative space that allows the earrings to work without competing with the garment. This is elementary in theory and almost never done in practice, because it requires resisting the instinct to fill the collarbone.
Chopard's chandelier pieces at this level (the tour used pieces from the Haute Joaillerie collection throughout) are not commercially available in the conventional sense. They are high jewellery, produced in limited numbers, displayed rather than stocked. If you want to buy something in the same family, Chopard's Haute Joaillerie collection is the entry point for understanding the range, though individual pieces of this specification require a private client conversation.
7 July, Paris Photocall: Philip Treacy, McQueen for Givenchy, and Fope
The Paris photocall at Trocadero Square brought the tour's most conceptually complete look. The garment was an archival Alexander McQueen piece from his early tenure at Givenchy (specifically the Spring 1997 runway): a white tailored dress with sharp structural lines and oversized detachable cuffs. Law Roach then added a Philip Treacy gold lace headpiece, originally created for Givenchy's Spring 1997 collection, meaning the headpiece and the dress come from the same show. The combined object is a coherent archival statement rather than a vintage piece styled alongside something contemporary.
The headpiece is the dominant element of this look. A Philip Treacy construction at this scale occupies a significant portion of the visual field; it has its own elaborate gold wirework and architectural ambition. The jewellery rule here is mitigation: find pieces with enough presence to register, and no more.
Roach used Fope, an Italian maker whose signature is a fine, flexible woven gold mesh (the Flex'it construction) that wraps against the skin rather than projecting away from it. Huggie earrings and minimalist ring bands, sitting close. The mesh texture provides light refraction that reads as precious without the projection of a set gemstone. Against the gold wirework of the Treacy headpiece, the Fope pieces provide a quiet tonal echo rather than a competing statement.
Fope is worth knowing beyond this moment. The Flex'it range runs from approximately £500 for simple bands to several thousand for the more complex bracelet constructions, and the mesh quality is distinctive — it moves and catches light in a way that flat gold does not. Available through Fope's UK stockists.
8 July, Paris Premiere: Louis Vuitton, Messika, and 800 Hours of Lace
The Paris premiere at Le Grand Rex was the most overtly theatrical look of the tour. Nicolas Ghesquière designed a custom Louis Vuitton gown that took 800 hours to complete: a white open-cut dress with a matching cropped bolero featuring what the house calls a "signature frilled escargot lace detail." The lace construction is the entire point of the garment. Everything else (the colour choice, the silhouette) exists to display it.
Messika is a house that works primarily in diamonds with a light, contemporary construction philosophy: less architecturally weighted than Chopard's Haute Joaillerie, more movement-oriented. For 800 hours of elaborate lace, this is the right call. A heavier piece would fight the textile. The Messika construction floats against it.
Messika's range is more accessible than Chopard's at the upper level, with pieces starting at a few hundred pounds and the high jewellery running into five figures. Messika's UK site covers the full range, including the Move collection that the house is best known for and which shares the light, kinetic quality visible on the Paris premiere carpet.
What this adds up to
Five looks, five different jewellery problems, five different solutions. Ancient gold as historical grounding. A diamond necklace placed over a breastplate rather than beneath it. A bare neckline as the condition of possibility for chandelier earrings. Fope mesh as quiet mitigation for a headpiece that dominates. Messika lightness against 800 hours of lace.
What is unusual is not the quality of the jewellery (Chopard and Messika operate at the highest level) but the precision with which each piece is deployed. Red carpet jewellery is usually decorative. This is functional in the architectural sense: each piece is doing something that changes the look it is part of. That is the thing worth paying attention to, regardless of whether you have an opinion about The Odyssey.
Frequently asked questions
What jewellery did Zendaya wear on The Odyssey press tour?
Across the London and Paris legs of The Odyssey press tour in July 2026, Zendaya wore Baron London ancient disc earrings (5 July photocall), a Chopard multi-strand diamond necklace draped over a Schiaparelli breastplate (6 July London premiere, red carpet), Chopard Haute Joaillerie chandelier drop earrings (6 July London premiere, inside), Fope woven gold mesh earrings and rings (7 July Paris photocall, paired with a Philip Treacy headpiece), and Messika diamond jewellery (8 July Paris premiere).
Who styled Zendaya for The Odyssey press tour?
Law Roach, Zendaya's longtime collaborator, styled all five looks. Roach has been working with Zendaya since 2011 and is responsible for the method dressing approach that characterises her press tour strategy: each look referencing the world of the film she is promoting.
What is the Baron London earring Zendaya wore at the London photocall?
The earrings worn at The Odyssey London photocall on 5 July are Baron London ancient disc earrings crafted from 1st century BCE gold artefact discs. Baron London sources archaeological pieces and works with them rather than producing replicas. The earrings pair the ancient material with contemporary construction, creating a piece that is both historically significant and wearable.
Where can I buy jewellery similar to what Zendaya wore?
The Chopard Haute Joaillerie pieces worn at the London premiere are high jewellery available through private client appointments at Chopard. Messika pieces from the Paris premiere are available at uk.messika.com, starting from a few hundred pounds. Fope pieces, worn at the Paris photocall, are available through Fope UK stockists.
Sources: WWD coverage of The Odyssey London premiere, 6 July 2026; Yahoo Entertainment press tour roundup, July 2026; Red Carpet Fashion Awards, 6 July 2026; Yardbarker, 6 July 2026; StarNews Korea on the Paris premiere, 9 July 2026; Chopard and Messika official product information.
