Lisa Rinna Opened the 2026 Emmys in a 42.73-Carat Blue Sapphire

A slab of royal blue opens the carpet

Every red carpet has one piece everyone photographs first. At the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards — held Monday, September 14, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles — that piece arrived early and it was unmistakable: Lisa Rinna in a Jacob & Co. high jewelry necklace anchored by a 42.73-carat octagonal blue sapphire, a stone big enough and blue enough to read from the very back of the theater.

In a season where most stars kept things restrained, Rinna went all in on a single, saturated hero stone. It was the boldest colored-gemstone statement of the night — and a reminder that nothing commands a room quite like a large, richly colored sapphire.

Inside the Jacob & Co. necklace

The design does exactly what great high jewelry should: it gives one exceptional stone the spotlight and lets everything else serve it. The 42.73-carat octagonal blue sapphire sits at the center, framed by marquise- and round-cut diamonds in white gold. That centerpiece hangs from a slender diamond line necklace, and a second blue sapphire drops just below the main stone — a subtle echo that adds movement without stealing focus.

Rinna styled it the way a piece like this deserves: she let it lead. Against an avant-garde Lever Couture gown, she added only a pair of simple diamond studs, one clean ring and a single cocktail ring — nothing that competed with the blue. It's a masterclass in a lesson the whole 2026 red carpet kept repeating: when one piece is this good, everything else gets out of its way.

 Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Why a 42-carat blue sapphire is so rare

Carat weight tells only part of the story. What makes a stone like this remarkable is how sharply rarity — and value — climbs as size increases. Small, fine sapphires turn up regularly; a large sapphire that stays richly colored and clean all the way through is a genuinely uncommon event. As a point of reference, fine colored-gemstone pieces like this are why collectors watch the red carpet so closely.

For context on just how rare large sapphires are: the Star of Adam, the largest blue sapphire certified to date, weighs an astonishing 1,404 carats and hails from Sri Lanka. Rinna's 42.73-carat stone is a fraction of that, of course — but as a faceted, wearable, red-carpet-ready gem, it sits in genuinely rarefied territory.

Sapphire's moment — right on schedule

The timing could not be better. Sapphire is September's birthstone, long tied to loyalty, wisdom and romance — which is exactly why it turns up on so many engagement rings and anniversary pieces. A headline-grabbing 42-carat sapphire on the Emmys carpet, during the very month the stone is celebrated, is the kind of cultural moment that tends to send people looking for their own blue.

You don't need forty carats to capture the feeling. The magic of sapphire is that its signature royal blue reads just as beautifully in a wearable pendant, a pair of studs, or a ring you'll actually put on every day. A piece like our Sapphire & Diamond Lake Tahoe pendant carries the same depth of color that made Rinna's necklace stop the carpet — scaled for real life.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Find your own blue

A stone like Lisa Rinna's is once-in-a-carpet — but the pull of a rich blue sapphire is available to anyone. At Forever Rox Fine Jewelry in Incline Village, we've spent four decades helping clients around Lake Tahoe choose sapphires with genuine color and character, and design them into necklaces, rings and pendants built to be worn. Whether you're marking a September birthday or simply chasing that royal-blue depth, we can help you find — or create — the right one.

Lisa Rinna's Emmys sapphire: FAQ