The $18 million woman: Cate Blanchett wins the award for most expensive outfit worn at the Oscars

Cate Blanchett has had a stellar awards season.

And now the actress has another gong to add to the mantelpiece – most expensive outfit worn at the 2014 Academy Awards.

The combined cost of her dress and jewellery came in at a whopping $18.1 million.
 A true star: Cate Blanchett was wearing more than $18 million worth of jewellery and couture at the 2014 Oscars Cate Blanchett wore expensive Chopard earrings Charlize Theron wore $15million worth of jewellery Ring and bracelet: Cate finished off her look with a brown-diamond bracelet and a pear-shaped diamoind ring, both from Chopard
Her embellished nude dress was from the Armani Prive Fall 2013 Collection and cost an estimated $100,000, according to Vogue.

But it was the jewellery – all of which was on loan – which pushed her outfit’s cost into the stratosphere.
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The Blue Jasmine actress wore dramatic earrings from Swiss-based luxury jewellers, Chopard, which had 62 opals set in white gold.

She also wore a brown diamond bracelet and a pear-shaped diamond ring, both from Chopard, bringing the total cost of her jewellery to approximately $18 million.

LUCKY CHARM: ACADEMY AWARD-WINNERS OF THE PAST 11 YEARS WHO HAVE WORN CHOPARD JEWELS

2004 – Charlize Theron, Best Actress, Monster
2005 – Hilary Swank, Best Actress, Million Dollar Baby
2006 – Rachel Weisz, Best Supporting Actress, The Constant Gardener
2007 – Helen Mirren, Best Actress, The Queen
2008 – Marion Cotillard, Best Actress, La Vie en Rose
2009 – Kate Winslet, Best Actress, The Reader
2009 – Penelope Cruz, Best Supporting Actress, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2010 – Mo’Nique, Best Supporting Actress, Precious
2011 – Colin Firth, Best Actor, The King’s Speech
2012 – Michel Hazanavicius, Best Director, The Artist
2013 – Jennifer Lawrence, Best Actress, Silver Linings Playbook
2014 – Cate Blanchett, Best Actress, Blue Jasmine
2014 – Matthew McConaughey, Best Actor, Dallas Buyers Club
Cate’s choice of jewellery may have been a nod to her Australian home, as both opals and brown diamonds are commonly found in Australian mines.

Charlize Theron, who was not nominated for an Academy Award this year, took home second-place in the expensive fashion category.

The Monster star wore more than $15 million worth of Harry Winston jewellery, including a dramatic diamond drop necklace, which complemented her $90,000 Christian Dior dress, bringing the total cost of her outfit to more than $16 million.

Chopard has a history of adorning winners at the Academy Awards. Both Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett were wearing Chopard pieces – for McConaughey it was an extra-thin L.U.C XP Tonneau watch – when they received their Best Actor and Best Actress statuettes.

Representatives from the 150-year-old company tweeted their congratulations to the stars saying that ‘Chopard is a lucky charm to Academy Award Winners’.

In fact, every year for the past 11 years, Chopard jewels have been worn by at least one winner from the major five categories – Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, or Best Director – leading some to believe that if you want to win an Oscar, you need to be wearing Chopard