Diamond Cross
The cross has been associated with religion as far back as the third century AD when “covert” crosses featured heavily in murals of the catacombs and on tombstones. They were sometimes depicted as an anchor with a crosspiece, as a ship with a mast and yard, a human with outstretched arms or as a juxtaposition of the initials JC (Jesus Christ) in Greek or Latin producing a cross like shape.
During the fourth century the cross became a pure Christian symbol, as by that time crucifixion as a method of execution had been abolished and the cross no longer had cruel and violent associations. As you will have also seen from horror movies of Count Dracula, it was used as a very effective method to ward off vampires and demons.
Today many Christians wear crosses around their necks as a sign of their faith, but they are also worn by many celebrities purely as a fashion statement. Designers to the stars like Theo Fennell and Butler & Wilson have many different designs – all of them bold and many of them extremely large and studded with diamonds.
Theo Fennell started designing his signature diamond crosses about six years ago when he overheard his 14 year old daughter asking when she could have her belly button pierced. His wife threatened to have hers done too and display it at the school’s speech day if she went ahead with it. This would obviously have caused her enormous embarrassment so she abandoned the whole idea. This got him thinking about jewellery that would work with streetwise fashion which could be elegant and well made. So he now features belly and ankle chains slung with tiny diamond crosses amongst his collection.
The singer Elton John and footballer David Beckham are rarely seen out without a diamond cross necklace or diamond cross earrings. It is reputed that Victoria Beckham splashed out over forty thousand pounds on a white gold cross encrusted with diamonds and dozens of square cut diamonds as a Christmas present for David, while Robbie Williams has another version in amethysts and diamonds.
Such is their fascination with the cross that the Beckhams have named their third and youngest son Cruz which means cross in Spanish. Unfortunately the Spaniards find this amusing as the word cruz has no gender and suggests the boy is asexual.