If you’re a star gazer, you would have seen many of your favourite stars decked out in luxurious jewellery at red carpet events like the Oscars or at Cannes.

How do the stars pick what’s best for them to wear, why do they look so put together? A chat with the president of a PR company that represents the world’s leading jewellery lines lends some insight into the inside happenings. “The process is fairly involved, but put simply, we work with celebrity stylists or the celebrities themselves to select jewellery that will best match their outfit. We have a dedicated, private showroom in Beverly Hills where they can view and try on our clients’ jewellery,” said Ginnina D’Orazio, president, D’Orazio & Associates.

D’Orazio & Associates specialises in public relations services for fine jewelry. It is the only fine jewellery public relations firm in Los Angeles with a private, multi-line showroom where stylists, editors, and celebrities can come view their clients’ collections in person and in a highly secure setting.

Before an event, a stylist or celebrity will make a selection of jewellery pieces they think will work with the gown they are planning to wear. They will then have a fitting either at the PR showroom or at their house where the pieces are tried on and matched with shoes, handbags, and other accessories to complete a look that’s fitting for the red carpet event they are attending.

The opportunity arises when a jeweller can get his or her designs on the red carpet by showcasing his or her pieces at the PR showroom in Beverly Hills. The showroom sees stylists coming in everyday to view the collections and borrow pieces for their celebrity clients. There are no guarantees when it comes to celebrity placement, but the best way to achieve a presence on the red carpet is to work with a PR company that specialises in fine jewellery and has a proven track record of placing jewellery on A-list celebrities.

Said D’Orazio, “When hiring a PR firm for celebrity and magazine placements, you should ask to see a four-month summary report along with a PR activity report from a recent fine jewellery client they are currently representing. This way you can gauge how many celebrity and magazine placements they can secure for your company.”

It is the reality that the preparations for a red carpet event start early in the day, with hair and make-up. There can be last minute changes to wardrobe and jewellery on the day of the event. This explains why press releases or media alerts are not sent out until there is 100% confirmation that the celebrity is wearing the client’s jewellery.

Once there is an image of a celebrity wearing the client’s jewels, the image is immediately sent to the media. Celebrity images such as these have tremendous reach, far beyond traditional advertising. A good example of this would be when Angelina Jolie wore Bochic jewelry at the Golden Globes. Photos of her were seen around the world in hundreds of publications. When an image request came from the Nepalese Times, it really hit home how much impact a celebrity red carpet image has on the global stage.

These types of placements generate not only publicity for a brand, but they also increase sales. Many well-off buyers who will simply tear out a page of a magazine and walk in to their jeweller asking for the jewellery worn by the celebrity. Red carpet placements also give a jewellery company a significant advantage when it comes to selling the line to retailers. These buyers are looking for excitement about the brand, and they want to see what promotional resources are being used to drive sales. Celebrity placements fulfill this role extremely well.” Said D’Orazio, “PR absolutely translates into sales. Many of our clients have sold pieces immediately after a celebrity has worn them, and all of our clients’ sales have increased significantly since we started working with them. In fact, the increase in sales almost always covers the cost of PR several times over.

We stay away from paid placements, as this is not something our clients are willing to engage in. The fact that many of today’s biggest stars choose to wear jewellery from our clients because they like the way it looks really validates the quality and design of the jewellery. It also allows the personality of the star to be reflected in their choice of jewellery.”

There are times when a celebrity can also fall in love with a piece and wish to buy it. Though the sales is a private matter if you have seen a celebrity wear a jewellery piece more than once it is a good indicator that they have purchased it.

In addition to celebrity placement, a lot of time is devoted to securing editorial coverage in national and international consumer and trade magazines, as well as coverage by broadcast media. These placements can run the gamut from product shots, interviews and feature articles to television segments. Clients enjoy a great deal of exposure from magazine editorials and broadcast placements, which is due in part to the company’s relationships with television producers, magazine, newspaper and online editors.

“Traditional PR firms work differently than our PR showroom, in that we focus solely on jewellery--rather than taking on clients from a variety of industries-- and have a large selection of pieces on hand from the jewellery companies we represent. So, instead of merely being an intermediary between the client and the media, we are actually the go-to destination for fine jewellery for many magazine editors and celebrity stylists,” said D’Orazio.

Note: The jewellery worn by the actresses seen in this article are D’Orazio & Associates celebrity red carpet placements.