Diamonds are top of the list

Diamonds are certainly on the list of a girl’s best friend, but so too are shoes, clothes, and chocolate. Let’s just say the list is endless and that’s without giving a mention to cats or dogs. So why are diamonds considered a girl’s best friend? Is it because they are expensive or perhaps because they are bright and beautiful. Or maybe its because they have been romanticised.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

The phrase diamonds are a girl’s best friend is taken from the hit song that appeared in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The song first featured in the Broadway stage musical in 1949 and was later produced in 1964 in London. The Hollywood film, starring Marilyn Monroe was made in 1953. Monroe plays the leading character, Lorelei Lee and sang the hit song.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes began as a diary series which was written for Harper’s Bazaar by Anita Loo’s. She wrote about a flapper girl that went to Paris to enhance her career as an entertainer but became more in love with diamonds then she did of the men that pursued her.

A context of comedy

The famous literary piece was written as a comedy. Loos could be thought of as the original female blogger, rivalled by the modern-day Carrie Bradshaw from Sex & The City. Today the phrase that diamonds are a girl’s best friend leaves us with the false impression that girls or women, love diamonds over everything else.

Living in a material World

In 1984 Madonna recorded the song Material Girl. The song featured on her album Like a Virgin. Material Girl was an imitation or a mimicry of the original Gentleman Prefer Blondes song. Those of us old enough to remember, will picture a young Madonna laying horizontally across the arms of men, whilst draped in diamonds and wearing a pink dress. The song was a huge hit for Madonna and has helped marry the association of diamonds and materialism.

Symbol of Love

Diamonds are considered to be the most popular gemstone and favoured above emeralds & pearls. Somehow ‘Pearls are a girl’s best friend’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it (pardon the pun). The representation of diamonds has been formed on how history has cemented a diamond with materialism, wealth, greed and fortune. Purely because Hollywood tells us so. This is a misdemeanour, diamonds are in fact a symbol of love.

Diamonds are forever

Diamonds are bright and beautiful but love really does conquer all. Even the films tell us this fact. Should the decision to marry someone be dependent on the size of the diamond presented at the proposal. To some it might, but that says more about the girl then the diamond. If you are in love the decision to shout ‘yes’ shouldn’t depend on the size of the diamond. It should depend purely on how you feel about the person. A diamond, like a person should be cherished forever.

Everlasting Friendship

According to a quote by Gina Barreca, don’t look at diamonds as a girl’s best friend, instead see best friends as diamonds.

“It’s not that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but it’s your best friends who are your diamonds. It’s your best friends who are supremely resilient, made under pressure and of astonishing value. They’re everlasting; they can cut glass if they need to.”

Glisten with personality

At Dawes Jewellery we love a bit of Hollywood glamour. But we do believe that Jewellery is more than a statement of wealth, it’s a statement of individuality and personality. With a range of over 1200 handpicked pieces, we have something for everyone. Our pieces are as individual as Marilyn Monroe or Madonna.