The World’s Most
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian Natural History Museum here in Washington D.C. and took a stroll through the gem collection. I was amazed by their beauty and wondered at how such stunning raw materials could be formed by the earth, struggling to remember what I could from my high school science classes. Of course, what impressed me the most was the Hope Diamond, weighing in at a whopping 45 and a half carats. I didn’t realize at the time that it was dwarfed by the Golden Jubilee, which is considered to be the world’s largest cut diamond at an incredible 546 carats. That would make for a heavy engagement ring! It’s certainly not the world’s most expensive diamond, as the world-famous Koh-i-Noor, at 106 carats tops that list. It’s considered priceless, literally, and not even assigned a value.
Interestingly, the prominence of diamonds is not unique to today’s culture. Their historical significance goes back at least as far as ancient Egypt, when diamonds were considered a symbol of courage, power, and truth. In fact, the Egyptian hieroglyph meaning life is the symbol of a diamond. The ancient Greeks and Romans, in turn, believed that diamonds were the splinters broken from a falling star or the tears of a god. In Ancient India, the Hindus believed diamonds were formed by bolts of lightning striking into rocks. Indeed, diamonds have maintained their high regard throughout history and are considered a representation of perfection.
All of this got me thinking about how diamonds are portrayed in art, and more specifically artistic design. And here we enter into the fantastic. You generally hear of artists using mediums like oils, pastels and acrylic paints to express a vision, but diamonds? I have two words. Debbie Wingham. A celebrity designer, Debbie takes diamonds to a whole new level. Known as the Queen of the world’s most expensive, she is lifting the art scene to new, prosperous heights. Her work is the quintessence of luxury, expressed through a variety of mediums, most notably diamonds. For example, her exquisite Red Abaya Dress, modeled after traditional Arab clothing, is a beautiful, loose, black gown with red flowery details, adorned with 3,000 stones, including a large and very rare, red diamond. It is valued at nearly 17.7 million USD and is by far the most expensive dress ever made. Her Runaway Cake literally takes the cake as the world’s priciest at 75 million USD, frosted with 4,000 diamonds and decked with an elaborate, hand sculpted runway, complete with a set of edible figurines. The cake, nothing short of masterpiece, was made of the finest ingredients and reported to be quite delicious. Speaking of delicious, take a look at her sweet-as-candy shoes, which will set you back a cool 15.4 million USD. Embellished with an extremely rare, large, pink and blue diamond, they look good enough to eat and are the record holder for the world’s priciest shoes.
Just as diamonds symbolize the pinnacle of wealth, so does Debbie’s Queendom. The Queendom is one of luxury, exuding the essence of wealth, prosperity, importance, and talent. Entry to the Queendom requires a passport. With your passport in hand, you are a VIP, a citizen to a world within a world. Your citizenship is a brand, and just by having it you have the colossal support of the Queendom. The Queendom is made up of a growing number of celebrities, selected artists, creators, designers, and businessmen who will appear inside the next Queendom issue of 365 Art+ Magazine. With the passport to the Queendom in your hand, the diamonds of the world are at your fingertips.