Justine Lupe On Style and the Diamonds That Shape a Life
Actress Justine Lupe tells Only Natural Diamonds all about how she uses jewelry to transform into characters in Succession and Nobody Wants This. Now, she’s creating heirlooms of her own to pass down to her baby daughter in her new role: motherhood.
Written by: Ruthie Friedlander
Photography by: Jackie Kursel
Published: October 27, 2025
Clarity of presence defines the actor Justine Lupe. There is a quiet brilliance to her that recalls a precisely cut stone, reflecting not only light but depth. She is perhaps best known for her nuanced role as Willa Ferreyra on Succession and her performances in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Nobody Wants This. She moves through her career with a considered grace that makes her difficult to categorize. In person (or, rather, over the phone), she transmits warmth, curiosity, and wit; on screen, she is transformative, disappearing into roles that rely on small gestures, half-smiles, and the kind of authenticity that can’t be faked.
Meet the Author
- Ruthie Friedlander is a writer, brand consultant, and founder of At Large Agency in New York. A former editor at ELLE, InStyle, and The Row, she is known for her signature style, sharp eye, and storytelling expertise—especially when it comes to diamonds.
- She is also the co-founder of The Chain, a nonprofit that supports individuals in image-focused industries who are struggling with eating disorders.
Offscreen, you’re more likely to find the actress pairing her uniform of vintage-inspired tees and Levi’s with a pair of diamond huggies (Chanel, to be specific) than a red carpet fantasy gem. “I realized jewelry could elevate the simplest look,” Justine Lupe says of her recent on-set experience with fine jewelry. Think more everyday casual, less red carpet “look at me.”
I realized jewelry could elevate the simplest look.
Justine Lupe Sees Jewelry as a Means of Storytelling
For Justine Lupe, jewelry has always been tethered to storytelling. As a child, she watched her grandmother adorn herself in ornate costume pieces that felt larger than life, “almost creating an aura that made her a bit of an enigma.” Her father, a visual artist, took a different approach: he crafted her mother’s wedding ring from her grandfather’s gold dental caps, etching delicate leaves into the band. “It’s one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve ever seen,” she says. It taught Lupe how deeply personal a piece could be – that it could literally carry a family’s history within it.
Justine Lupe’s Meaningful and Minimalist Wedding Ring
Those two influences, the enigmatic and the intimate, shaped her relationship with fine jewelry. While Justine Lupe has often described herself as a minimalist, her wedding set tells its own layered story: a sapphire (her husband’s birthstone) encircled by diamonds, worn stacked with a Sophie Bille Brahe diamond eternity band she requested specifically for its delicate design. “I’ve never owned many diamonds,” she admits. But these just felt right to her. “I just really like how dainty [the ring is] – and it matches the sapphire ring perfectly. I always wear them together.”
Justine Lupe’s Relationship with Style Began Early in Life
Justine Lupe’s relationship with fashion crystallized during her father’s tenure at the Denver Art Museum as an exhibition specialist, where a landmark Yves Saint Laurent retrospective reframed clothing as art in her teenage mind. That personal connection between fashion and narrative has only deepened as her career has grown. “Working with stylists, I’ve come to see how every outfit tells a story, how every piece carries energy,” she explains. Jewelry, she adds, has become an “integral part” of that story.
Jewelry, the way you’re dressed, it’s all an indicator of who your character is and who they’re trying to be.
How Jewelry Changed Her Understanding of a Character
She recalls the moment on Succession when a simple black ribbon choker helped her step fully into Willa’s skin. “It just clicked: she’s the woman who wears this choker to this event. It changed my posture, my understanding of her.” The choice later sparked unexpected discourse online—Reddit threads debating its symbolism of sex workers—but for Justine Lupe, it was proof of jewelry’s narrative power. “Costume, jewelry, the way you’re dressed, it’s all an indicator of who your character is and who they’re trying to be.”
It just clicked: she’s the woman who wears this choker to this event. It changed my posture, my understanding of her.
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Justine Lupe’s Most Important Role: Motherhood
In recent years, Lupe’s most profound role has taken place off-screen: motherhood. She filmed the soon-to-debut second season of Nobody Wants This while pregnant and leaned into this transformation. “I was in love with my body,” she says. “There’s an intense creative energy that comes with pregnancy. I surrendered to it, and I think it served the work.”
That sense of surrender now informs how she thinks about legacy. “I’m not really attracted to ‘things,’” she says, “and we don’t have a lot of family heirlooms that have been passed down.” So with that, she set out to create heirlooms on her own. She has written letters to her daughter to one day pass down, treasured photographs of her parents in their twenties, and admits she might hold onto the bright blue robe she wore while giving birth, “a Four Seasons robe from Bora Bora,” (which she may or may not have stolen). And, one day, a pair of Chanel gold and diamond hoops.
Photographs from her Chanel Mother’s Day campaign, styled in fine diamonds, strike her as the kind of image her daughter might one day cherish. They capture something timeless, with the jewelry being the accent that takes the story to the next level. It is not difficult to imagine Lupe’s daughter looking at it decades from now and seeing her not just as her mother or an actress but as a powerful woman.
At this stage in her life, Justine Lupe is grounded in cautious optimism. She speaks of her friendships, her marriage, and the joy of watching her daughter discover the world—unfiltered, curious, completely present. “There’s something amazing about a baby looking straight into your eyes and just… farting,” she says, breaking into laughter. “There’s no self-consciousness, no shame. Just pure presence.” What a reminder to just be here, to take in the magic of the simple moments. It is this mix of humor and clarity, gravitas and levity, that defines Lupe, and makes her a fitting muse for diamonds. Like the most timeless cuts, her beauty lies not in a single facet, but in the brilliance of them all.
Photographer: Jackie Kursel
Stylist: Rebecca Ramsey
Creative Director: Lizzy Oppenheimer
Hair Stylist: Shinya Nakagawa
Makeup Artist: Maki Ryoke
Manicurist: Sonya Meesh
Entertainment Director At-Large: Glynis Costin
Creative Production: Petty Cash Production
1st Photo Assistant: Alonso Eayala
2nd Photo Assistant: Meghan Marin
Styling Assistant: Jade Smith
