The multicolored masterpiece of a necklace you see here is on shown on the lovely neck of Amy Adams. This was one of the many pieces of "statement jewelry" we saw last night at the 2009 Oscars.

Any famous person can get a jeweler to loan them some ice for the 81st Annual Academy Awards, but nominated stars like Amy Adams walk away with pieces that look more like they came from a museum.

The Oscars is no night to hide your wealth, even during a recession. It's not like "toning down" the looks of the celebrities would make Americans feel better about their financial situations. In fact, jewelry like this is what America wants to see the most -- it's totally unaffordable, even during an economic boom; it's Hollywood fantasy.

Jeweler Fred Leighton had a great showing this year, with spectacular 19th and turn-of-the century items on everyone from Alicia Keys to Tina Fey, and even Heath Ledger's mother and sister. Chopard was the jeweler of champions; outfitting both Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz (winners of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress).

Check out more of the most outstanding pieces here in our gallery. This is the kind of jewelry you can't fake.

On Oscar weekend, the stars did more than just sign autographs, some of them signed a wooden case containing Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage Magnum from 1929, the year of the very first Academy Awards ceremony. The bottle was displayed at the Governor's Ball immediately following the Oscars ceremony. It will be auctioned off at Christie's on June 6 as apart of a wine auction in the Hamptons. Proceeds from the special bottle will benefit the Motion Picture & Television Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides "relief" for those in the film industry who had fallen on hard times including health care, childcare, retirement living, and social/charitable services.

As a supplement to my colleague Deidre Woollard's rundown on red carpet fashions at the Oscars, I offer my own pick for best-dressed man: nouveau James Bond Daniel Craig. Craig, above with girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell, who was a presenter at the ceremony, wore a midnight blue shawl collar tuxedo with satin facing on the lapels and turned-back cuffs and an elegant trim black satin diamond point bow tie and white silk pocket square, all by his favorite designer Tom Ford.

The smaller bow tie in an unusual shape was a welcome change from the alarming trend toward oversized, clownish bows, while the vintage-inspired look of the dark blue shawl managed to be distinctive, classic and extremely elegant, a bit of a departure from the usual without going too far. Ford, who provided suits for Craig to wear in Quantum of Solace, also made Brad Pitt's tuxedo for the Oscars, though Craig looked the best.

Since 2002, shoe designer Stuart Weitzman has chosen one woman to walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards in a pair of one-of-a-kind shoes adorned with over $1 million in gemstones. Last year, Weitzman created the "Retro Rose" shoes shown above for screenwriter Diablo Cody (who at the last minute opted not to wear them). This year there will be again be no feet in Weitzman's diamond shoes at the Oscars but for a different reason, the economy. He has said that he decided that the current situation calls for restraint and not extravagance. As Hollyscoop reports Weitzman still has his line of Red Carpet Collection shoes for the show and he is hosting a styling suite, he's just forgoing the stunt bling. His move is part of an overall toning down of awards shows this year. The glamour will still be at the Oscars but stars decked out in diamonds from ears to feet are out this season.

British outerwear company Belstaff are offering a collection of leather jackets worn by Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In the movie, co-starring Cate Blanchett, Pitt sports three different Belstaff designs in various scenes. In the first, Pitt wears the iconic Belstaff Panther jacket (above) while riding his vintage Indian motorcycle through Louisiana with Blanchett, giving her the jacket to keep warm at one point; in the second he's seen riding a classic Triumph motorcycle wearing a Royal Air Force-type flying jacket based on an archival design, dubbed the Button Blouson; and in a scene opposite Tilda Swinton he sports a vintage shearling-trimmed jacket which the company has now resurrected.

All three jackets can now be ordered from Belstaff's website or purchased in Belstaff stores, in limited editions. The Panther is priced at $1,205, the Button Blouson $1,295, and the Shearling, $1,995. Belstaff is also donating a portion of sales to Pitt's Hurricane Katrina charity, Make It Right. Belstaff, founded in 1924, was a favorite of Steve McQueen, and has also outfitted Will Smith in I Am Legend, Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible and War of the Worlds, Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code, Kevin Spacey in Superman Returns and George Clooney in Leatherheads. Benjamin Button has been nominated for 13 Oscars including Best Costume Design.

[via JustLuxe]

Moet & Chandon has been doing a big push with the awards ceremonies lately. They had a red carpet presence at the Golden Globes and now they been designated the exclusive champagne of the 81st Annual Academy Awards. This is the first time that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has had a champagne designation for Oscar and pre-Oscar events (I'm guessing LVMH had to pay a hefty fee for the privilege). Moet & Chandon will be the only champagne or sparkling wine served at the 2009 Oscars.

For those of us not attending the show, there is an Oscars "party kit" on the Oscars website that includes recipes from Wolfgang Puck and a champagne cocktail, the Red Carpet Fizz, which features pomegranate juice, orange liqueur, fresh raspberries and Moet & Chandon White Star.

If you are in New York City, you might want to swing by the Chopard flagship store at Madison and 63rd St. They will be displaying display jewelry pieces worn by Oscar winners from the past five years from March 7-14. Chopard has got a pretty good Oscar streak going: Marion Cotillard (2008), Helen Mirren (2007), Rachel Weisz (2006), Hilary Swank (2005), and Charlize Theron (2004) all wore Chopard jewelry when they won their Oscars. This year's winner, the charming Marion Cotillard who won for La Vie en Rose wore a 64-ct.champagne diamond briolette necklace with a light and dark brown 106-ct. dark brown diamond bead necklace with her mermaid-like Gaultier dress.

The value of an Oscar statuette is obviously more about the sentiment and experience than anything else, but what is that little gold man really worth in cold hard cash?

There are several ways of looking at it:

• Resale value for Oscars won after 1950 are limited because the Academy makes all winning celebrities sign an agreement that if they want to sell they have to first offer the statue back to them for $1.
  
• Based on the current price of the gold if melted down each Oscar is worth about $500.
• If sold on the sly (or for pre-1950 Oscars that can be sold in the open) big-name Oscars will easily clear $60,000+, with many hitting 6 figures.

That's not all that much, all things considered. I think if I ever win one I'll be happy to just keep it (hey, I can dream!).

I've been feeling a bit bad for Anika Noni Rose, the third girl in the Dreamgirls trio. After all, Jennifer Hudson got the Oscar nod and the Vogue cover and Beyonce got a Sports Illustrated cover but what has Miss Rose gotten? At least she gets to wear a pair of amazing shoes. Stuart Weitzman has announced that Anika Noni Rose , will wear the Stuart Weitzman Diamond Dream Shoe to the 79th Annual Academy Awards. The shoes include 1,420 brilliant Kwiat diamonds totaling over 30 carats. The diamonds are set in platinum circles and the shoes are worth over half a million dollars.

I noticed that at recent award ceremonies more stars were wearing major gem wattage on the wrists, ears and fingers rather than around the neck. That may be different at the Oscars which is the ne plus ultra for showcasing blockbuster jewels. The necklace shown here is a 75-carat necklace of Royal Asscher Cut diamonds and black onyx. It is part of eBay's Style Suite, being held at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills February 20 through February 22 for stylists and stars on a swag cruise who are interested in checking out some of the shopping wealth that is Ebay. Stars can borrow the necklace but you can make it your own. The Art Deco style necklace will be auctioned off starting on February 25 along with nine other Asscher pieces on eBay. A portion of the proceeds of the auction will be donated to World Vision and the Aspen Center for Integral Health. The necklace features 97 diamonds and is valued at $1.8 million.

One of the most-talked about dresses from this year's Oscars will hit the auction block. Keira Knightley' is putting her burgundy silk Vera Wang dress up for bid on eBay as part of a benefit for Oxfam. The money raised will support Oxfam's work in East Africa. Bidding starts April 21 and ends April 30. The dress is on display at an Oxfam shop in Notting Hill Gate.

[via itv.com]

Ah, Clooney, could we love you anymore? Gorgeous George, who won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for "Syriana"  will donate the swag bag he received for being an Oscar presenter to the United Way. The auction will benefit the United Way Hurricane Response and Relief Recovery Fund. The bag includes a BlackBerry 8700c, a Kay Unger kimono and a cultured Tahitian-pearl necklace but more importantly, the winner gets a handwritten thank-you note from Clooney himself.  More details on the bag contents can be found here and the total worth is estimated to be around $100,000. The auction begins March 21. Of course if Clooney wanted to make some serious donation money, he should auction himself off…

[picture via Oscar.com]

A few days after any awards show, I always like to check in with Clothes Off Our Back to see what celebrity cast-offs are up for bid. It's pretty slim pickings from the Oscars thus far but if you have a hankering for Jennifer Aniston's shoes and handbag you can pick them up here. The Lana Marks Cleopatra Clutch that Jennifer Aniston carried to the 78th Annual Academy Awards is being auctioned off to benefit Cure Autism Now, Half the Sky and UNICEF's work in Darfur.

This year's fashion offered a few hits and as always some startling misses. This year the predominant color seemed to be no color at all. Many gowns were some form of beige or nude. My picks for the best and worst are below. Let me know yours in the comments.

Best
Women
1) Reese Witherspoon's elegant vintage Christian Dior.
2: Ziyi Zhang's Armani bustier and Swarovski crystal-covered skirt. As fabulously dazzling as the costumes she wore in "Memoirs of a Geisha."
3) Salma Hayek's azure satin gown by Versace. The color was gorgeous but it did show the lines of her foundation garments.
4) Jessica Alba's gold Versace gown. I'm not sure what she's doing on at the Oscars but she looks good.
5) Jennifer Garner's Michael Kors gown. Shimmering, flattering, and takes good advantage of that post-baby cleavage.


Men:
1) Ludacris's tasteful black-on-black Armani ensemble.
2) Paul Giamatti's Hugo Boss suit, tasteful, elegant and quite slimming.
3) Will Smith's midnight blue David August tuxedo. Not all men can pull off wearing a vest but it looks quite handsome on Mr. Smith.

Worst
Women:
1) Maggie Gyllenhaal's Bottega Veneta gown. It looked liked living room drapes hanging on drooping gold chains. And what's with all the gowns with pockets this year? Is there a purse boycott I was unaware of?
2) Jennifer Lopez's vintage gown from Rita Watnick at Lily et Cie. There's just too much going on here, wraps, pleats, surplus fabric. Her impressive figure looks best in simpler outfits.
 3) Michelle Williams's screaming yellow gown from Vera Wang. A beautiful girl but that color is not flattering with pale skin and the tulle frills at the top combined with the drapery over the lower half seem to draw attention to all the wrong areas. In nearly every picture the neckline is flapping up. Also the necklace which uses blackened metal is too harsh with such a delicate look.
4)Naomi Watts's shredded catastrophe from Givenchy. The color made her look washed out and the dress looked as if she had a bad run in with a lawnmower.
5) Charlize Theron's black Christian Dior. We realize she probably has to wear Christian Dior since she shills for their fragrance line but this dress would be a beauty without that giant shoulder pouf.

Men:
1) Phillip Seymour Hoffman's tuxedo. On a man of a certain girth on all black ensemble with a silver tie is not flattering.
2) Jamie Foxx: turquoise shirt and shadow-striped suit seemed like an attempt to attract attention now that it's not his year anymore.
3) Was Morgan Freeman wearing an ascot around his neck?
4) Gary Busey, ah, Gary Busey.


Most gorgeous accessories
1) Keira Knightley's Asprey Bulgari collar. It probably would have worked better with a strapless dress but it's a show-stopper of a necklace.
2) Amy Adams's aquamarine and diamond earrings (a loan from Carolina Herrera who designed her gown). They look heavy but so gorgeous with her big blue eyes.
3) Nicole Kidman's Fred Leighton bracelets. Just the right touch of sparkle with her Balenciega applique gown.
4) Jennifer Garner's chandelier earrings.
5) Jane Seymour's tiny guitar purse.

Everyone has been primped up, kitted out and gifted until their pockets overflow which means it's finally time for the Oscars. We'll be keeping an eye on the fashion and the jewels following along with the Crashing the Oscars blog. Our sibling Cinematical will also be offering an expert opinion on all things Oscar.