Nita Ambani's Ganesh Chaturthi Necklace Wasn't Made But Assembled, Piece By Antique Piece, Over Three Years

At this year's Ganpati celebrations, Nita Ambani's saree took a backseat to a necklace with its own history

At the Ambani family’s Ganpati celebrations at Antilia this year, Nita Ambani stepped out in vivid silk saree by Swadesh, but the eye went straight to what sat above it: a necklace so large it reached shoulder to shoulder, and was, quite literally, a small exhibition worn around the neck.

The piece is called Amrapali Bharatam, and it isn’t one necklace so much as many, folded into one. The piece contains a traditional Kerala necklace that anchors its upper half. And around the necklace sit old South Indian naths, jhoomars, earrings, billas and chandbalis. What really catches our breath is how all these ornaments were once entirely different pieces, belonging to entirely different decades, and are now sharing the same frame. Pearls and coloured gemstones fill the gaps between them, and if you look closely enough, each fragment can be traced for its original beauty and value.