< Historic Diamonds / Auctions
Gabriela Hearst Is Sotheby’s High Jewelry’s Not So Secret Weapon
Gabriela Hearst has an exceptional eye for beauty in jewelry, and she’s bringing it home in her first curation of High Jewelry for Sotheby’s.
Published: December 12, 2025
Written by: Sam Broekema
For many fashion designers, jewelry is an afterthought, an accouterment to enhance the “look.” But for Gabriela Hearst, a lifelong curiosity about natural stones and adornment began in childhood. This makes sense, as the designer’s sensibility, like jewelry, roots in longevity and purpose, bucking trends for that much-overused yet apt word: value. Sotheby’s saw this connection and tapped Hearst to curate an edit of ten exceptional pieces from the High Jewelry sale.
A noted fashion designer with clients including former First Lady Jill Biden, Oprah Winfrey, and Meghan Markle, Hearst’s eye for timeless design and classic dressing makes her the first fit for a Sotheby’s curation.
Meet the Experts
Gabriela Hearst is a fashion designer whose runway shows have been a pioneering example of sustainability, using deadstock fabrics, and eliminating plastic use. She was named one of the 25 most Influential Women of 2021 by the Financial Times. She was honored with the 2023 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion by The Couture Council of The Museum at FIT (MFIT). In March 2024, TIME announced Gabriela Hearst as one of the honorees of the 2024 TIME Earth Awards
As the Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s Jewelry in New York City, Frank Everett is known for his expertise of the design and history of great period jewels. Everett joined Sotheby’s auction house in New York as Senior Vice President and Sales Director for Jewelry in 2013.
How Gabriela Hearst and Sotheby’s Formed a High Jewelry Partnership
Frank Everett, Vice Chairman, Sotheby’s Jewelry, told Only Natural Diamonds, “We could not be more thrilled to have Gabriela Hearst curate our first High Jewelry sale in our new home at the Breuer building. Gabriela’s passion and deep knowledge of jewelry, along with our shared belief that jewelry is art, made this collaboration especially meaningful. We were honored to present her ‘Alpha and Omega’ earrings—marking her auction debut—and even more gratified to witness their exceptional result.”
This marked the first entry in high jewelry for Gabriela Hearst, but we can predict it will not be the last.
The Sotheby’s Sale Where Gabriela Hearst Let a Favorite Go
The results of the sale speak for themselves, and to Gabriela Hearst’s finely attuned eye, as each piece crushed its estimate. The designer honed her exquisite taste early in life, studying her aunt’s jewelry collection and learning from stories she heard about their craftsmanship. Hearst described the feeling, saying, “It’s like I’ve been preparing all my life to work with Sotheby’s and curate the High Jewelry auction, formerly known as Magnificent Jewels. I was able to see some of the most beautiful pieces in the world.”
“I wanted to bid on the David Webb necklace, but unfortunately, I promoted it a little bit too much,” Hearst said, laughing. “But that’s good for Sotheby’s, even if it’s bad for me.” The David Webb Demon Mask necklace-brooch combination features a carved nephrite mask inspired by pre-Columbian art with ruby-set eyes and accents of round diamonds. The piece smashed its $20,000 estimate, realizing $508,000. Gabriela Hearst certainly knows how to promote when she’s passionate!
The Jewelry History That Shaped Gabriela Hearst’s Eye
Hearst notes that her curiosity about jewelry led her to ponder even earlier antecedents, asking, “Why do we dress our bodies with jewels for millennia? Since Neolithic times, we have had this fascination. I can lose myself, mesmerized by the craft and the stones themselves. Nature’s generosity of always giving the very best, not only our lives, but objects we can adore and adorn ourselves with.” True to this, among the treasures Hearst selected is a showstopping Fancy Vivid Orangey Pink diamond ring weighing 3.27 carats, in a modified brilliant cut.
This piece realized $920,750 in furious bidding, reflecting the current fervor for fancy vivid colored diamonds. A connoisseur, Hearst understands the rarity of the natural pink diamonds, noting, “Yes, this was a small diamond. But the sense is that it is not that small for a vivid pink diamond, for as you know, these are among the most valuable diamonds today. And it is stunning. It’s like holding a piece of magic between your fingers.”
Gabriela Hearst on the Power of Nature in High Jewelry
Another fancy colored diamond that has collectors swooning is the blue diamond. A natural pearl and fancy blue diamond necklace that was estimated by Sotheby’s at $800,000 but nearly doubled that figure, with the gavel crashing at $1,270,000, eclipsing even the high estimate.
Hearst notes about the process, “I was asked to curate ten pieces, which was done very fast and very intuitively. I was extremely happy. I chose this pearl necklace, and what was so special about it was that it not only had cultivated pearls, but it also had a vivid blue diamond as a clasp. So that took on a whole different value for the necklace.” Truly extraordinary, the clasp, set with a marquise-shaped Fancy Blue diamond weighing 3.78 carats, is a marvel.
Gabriela Hearst’s High Jewelry Design Debut for Sotheby’s
As for the earrings designed exclusively by Hearst for Sotheby’s, the “Alpha and Omega” earrings feature round emeralds and sapphires suspended in lines of round diamonds in white and brown. Hearst describes the design, saying, “They are modular in the sense that they can become studs; they can become shorter; they can become a pendant. You could pair the ruby and the pink sapphire together as a double earring or the emerald with the blue sapphire.”
“They have the mobility that was very typical in jewelry designed in the 1940s, when women wanted to dress up or down and have versatility. The idea was that if you were gonna have one piece of jewelry, it could do a lot.” Beyond their beauty and versatility, the pair did even more: they sold for $69,850 (again, above their estimate) to benefit Amazon Frontlines, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the rights and lands of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon.
