As red-carpet appearances go, it was certainly a case of putting your money where your mouth is.
Turning heads — and possibly a few stomachs — Angelina Jolie did what she does best, shocking onlookers by wearing a metal chin cuff to the premiere of her latest film.
Hooked inside her lower lip and running down to beneath her chin, the 14-carat-gold gobsmacker was an unexpected addition to Angelina’s otherwise understated outfit.
But it’s not the first time she has paraded an unusual adornment. This is the woman, after all, whose idea of marital devotion was to wear a vial of her second husband Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around her neck.
So is this a weird but wonderful new direction for jewellery design, or just an oddity chosen to attract maximum publicity for Angelina’s new movie, Eternals?
She’s all mouth… Angie’s edgy look will have limited her air kisses all night — but will it catch on with the public, or just get caught on someone’s collar?
Baring her bling: Katy Perry, you’ve got something in your teeth . . . Oh, those coloured diamonds are worth tens and thousands.
Material grill: Madonna is not afraid to cause controversy. She has thousands of pounds of sparkling face jewellery (left). Cara Delevingne is showing off her punk side without having to commit to a piercing. She has a collection gold lip rings.
Face frame: From this full-face metal ‘mask’ to golden grills on her teeth, Beyonce is always happy to make a feature of her mouth
Perhaps the most surprising thing about her mouthpiece is that she’s not, in fact, the first to wear the style.
Paloma Faith, a British singer, was named the worst-dressed guest at the Q Awards in London 2017. She wore a pair gold chin rings.
And Beyonce wore a larger version of Angie’s cuff by the same designer for her Spirit video. ‘This is an iteration of the face mask I did for Beyonce,’ says Texan jewellery designer Nina Berenato. Nina said her creation was inspired both by superheroes as well as Greek and Roman gods.
‘These designs are removable accessories rather than a permanent piercing,’ explains jewellery historian, expert and collector Beth Bernstein, who says the chin cuff is customised by pressing it into the contours of the face.
‘One purpose of jewellery throughout time has been to show your role in society. It has also been used as an amulet or talisman, from antiquity to now,’ says Bernstein. ‘And while in modern times wearing jewellery is more about individuality than showing your role in society, what still holds true is that jewellery is meant to adorn with beauty or meaning and complement, not distract from, your own natural beauty.’
Right, somewhere between a gold tooth and a grill, Rita Ora’s unusual oral addition is a relatively subtle take on the trend. Left, grillz just wanna have fun: Miley Cyrus’s dentist may be disappointed that she’s covering up those pearly whites with a golden mouthguard
She’s hooked: Paloma Faith was ahead of the trend when she wore this fish hook-style decoration to the Q Awards pre-pandemic, but it didn’t win many fans
Plenty of lip: Kim Kardashian loves a lip-cuff.
Kim Kardashian featured her teeth accessories in Instagram
Metal mouth: An AK47 wrought with gold and placed over your incisors. It could only be done by Rihanna
Rihanna sported her dental diamante (pictured) on her Instagram account.
So what does she think of Angelina’s red-carpet look? ‘Sadly, it’s not a beautiful piece of jewellery — it just looks like it’s trying to hold her chin up.’
Angelina wore it, so why?
‘It’s aggressive, it’s boundary-pushing, but without altering her appearance permanently. She did something that would get people talking,’ says Bernstein, before adding: ‘Although can Angelina really talk with this on? Can she eat it on? It looks uncomfortable.’ More gobstopper than gobsmacker, then!
The unusually mandible bangle is a result of the celebrity trend for removable lips rings and grillz (teeth jewelry). Grillz are generally considered hip-hop’s most popular trend. They actually date back 800 BC to the Etruscans in Italy, when women had their front teeth removed. Then, they were fitted with new teeth that were held together by a gold band. It was a way of displaying wealth, power, and beauty.
Justin Bieber at 2021 Met Gala. Beiber wore a £20,000 diamond-encrusted set on his wedding day
24-carat pout: Justin Bieber showed off a set of lavender-coloured diamond grills when he married model Hailey Baldwin — he also owns two others
Perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked, then, that Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus are fans — or that Justin Beiber wore a £20,000 diamond-encrusted set on his wedding day.
Brand strategist Wizz Selvey thinks there could be even more to it: ‘After almost two years of covering our mouths with masks, an expression and celebration of this area seems apt.’
And despite the fact she’s no fan of Angelina’s bauble, Beth Bernstein says the A-lister’s star power could mean they will catch on.
‘Everyone wants to tell a story with their jewellery — and her story is that she doesn’t play it safe.
‘Angelina can perhaps push the boundaries of what’s perceived as beautiful, simply because she is beautiful.’
- Picture researcher: Claire Cisotti