Kim Kardashian made a strong statement at the 2022 Met Gala by wearing pop icon Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress for fashion’s biggest night. However, Kim wasn’t the only one wearing something with historical significance. Popular internet personality Emma Chamberlain also reportedly wore a choker that belonged to Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh. Yes, you read that right.
This year, Emma Chamberlain walked the Met Gala red carpet in a Louis Vuitton ensemble. It featured a corset-inspired crop top and an ivory bodycon skirt. However, it was her jewelry assembly that caught everyone’s attention. Emma, who is the ambassador for luxury jewelry brand Cartier, wore diamond jewelry including a tiara and apparently Patiala’s iconic Maharaja choker.
No downside to Emma, given that she is a Cartier ambassador, but it is a very important historical piece that should have been given back to the Sikhs instead of being made into a fashion statement. pic.twitter.com/LsioU56Cx0
— pop-preset (@pop-preset_) May 7, 2022
In 1928, the Maharaja of Patiala decided to transform his De Beers diamond, the seventh largest diamond in the world, into a choker. He commissioned Cartier to make the necklace. The necklace mysteriously disappeared after his son Maharaja Yadavindra Singh last wore it in 1948. It was recovered half a century later by Cartier representative Eric Nussbaum in London. However, it was a skeleton of itself. She no longer had the De Beers stone and most of her Burmese rubies. So Cartier set about restoring the necklace without the original De Beers and other stones.
The buzz that Emma Chamberlain was wearing the Patiala necklace has left netizens talking about it. In fact, the internet has a lot to say about it. “Thank you #cartier. These are the jewels of the Maharaja of Patiala. This is a piece of stolen Indian history, not a fancy piece of jewelery to loan to celebrities. Disrespectful in so many ways,” wrote one Twitter user.
Here are some other reactions:
So I just found out that Emma Chamberlain was wearing the Maharaja of Patiala’s necklace at the Met Gala, it’s way worse than Kim wearing Marilyn Monroe’s dress. There is a deep and painful story attached to it. Very on-theme, nothing screams golden glamor quite like expropriation pic.twitter.com/XqqHwqusdU
– (@arianaspovv) May 7, 2022
The height of privilege to be able to exhibit stolen goods on the world stage. Jewels stolen from the Panjab resurface at the Met Gala in New York.
The fate of the Maharaja of Patiala’s Cartier Diamond Choker is unknown, but it was likely sold and repurchased by
Cartier at a later date. pic.twitter.com/qSqRIkVkrT— Tarandeep Singh (@tarandeephora) May 6, 2022
Thank you #cartier. These are the jewels of the Maharaja of Patiala. It’s a piece of stolen Indian history, not a fancy piece of jewelry to lend to celebrities. Disrespectful on so many levels. pic.twitter.com/KhK5LPexaj
— Shriya Zamindar (@shriyazamindar) May 7, 2022
So the news just broke that Emma Chamberlain wore the Maharaja of Patiala’s diamond choker to the Met Gala, and as a Sikh and a Punjabi, it doesn’t suit me. it was stolen, “bought back” by cartier, of course. [1]
— bela lugosi (@valovife) May 7, 2022
Emma Chamberlain wearing the diamond choker that was stolen from the Maharaja of Patiala is ironically very on point for the golden glam theme.
— fuhar | ia for a bit (@warnersdorogaya) May 8, 2022
maharaja of a descendant of patiala should wear this choker. not a white youtube girl borrowing this at a fashion event
— (@wibyun) May 7, 2022
Meanwhile, a section of the internet claimed that the choker worn by Emma Chamberlain was not the Patiala necklace.
Tiktok is going crazy over the necklace Emma Chamberlain wore to the Met Gala, but they confuse it with the ‘patiala necklace’ and spread misinformation further
— G (@pwaygz) May 8, 2022
Neither Cartier nor Emma Chamberlain has yet commented on the matter.
