What The Royals gets right about Jaipur’s legacy

In Netflix’s The Royals, it’s not simply the palaces and politics doing the speaking — it is usually the jewelry. Whereas the present performs quick and free with plot, its styling leans into Jaipur’s royal previous, utilizing jewelry to quietly trace at energy, legacy, and shifting identities. What makes the jewelry in The Royals stand out is how little it tries to face out. It’s not flashy. It’s worn with intent, rooted in place and character. Jewelry turns into much less about opulence and extra about context — who belongs, who’s pretending, and who’s discovering their place.

From heirloom-inspired aad necklaces to smooth brooches worn with bandhgalas, every bit was rigorously plotted out prematurely, but left room to evolve on set.

“For a present like this, jewelry may be very, crucial,” says Aastha Sharma, the costume designer for the present. “We ensure we put our boards collectively, character-wise, and determine who wears what sort of jewelry, whether or not it’s archival, extra present, or one thing in between.”

Aastha and her crew began by constructing visible boards for every character, sketching out their jewelry journey throughout the present. As soon as that they had a way of how a lot they would wish, they started sourcing from a few of Jaipur’s greatest: Amrapali Jewels, The Gem Palace (based in 1852 by the Kasliwal household, started as courtroom jewellers to Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the founding father of Jaipur), and Rambhajo (a reputation synonymous with kundan, meena, jadau, polki and positive diamonds), shaped the core. “Between the three massive jewellers, we knew we might discover what we would have liked,” she says.

However it was not simply heritage homes. The crew additionally introduced in youthful, extra up to date manufacturers like Valliyan to stability issues out. “We needed to usher in a combination — one thing that felt lived-in and rooted, but additionally contemporary,” provides Aastha, including, “We labored with Valliyan to design Zeenat Aman’s stick, since she’s holding it in nearly each scene.”

Historic context

In Jaipur, jewelry isn’t nearly sparkle. It’s reminiscence, energy, continuity, and in some ways, resistance. Whereas the world has usually seen jewelry as a lady’s area, in Jaipur, it has been a device of each female company and patriarchal management. For Rajput girls, jewelry functioned as a visible archive of caste, class, and marital standing. Items just like the borla (the Rajasthani equal of the maang tikka), rakhdi, and hansli (a torque-like necklace) have been coded with which means.

However, it needs to be famous that as in a lot of pre-colonial India it was males who initially held the highlight when it got here to jewelry in Jaipur. Sarpechs (turban ornaments), necklaces, rings, ear studs, and armlets have been all generally worn by royal males. They have been markers of rank, honour, and divine favour.

Navratna jewelry, which included 9 auspicious gems tied to celestial forces, was usually worn by male royals and courtiers to sign cosmic alignment and safety. Jewelry additionally featured closely in Rajput miniature portraits, the place kings are proven laden with elaborate gem-studded regalia, usually outshining their feminine counterparts in ornamentation. So sure, in 18th- and early Nineteenth-century Jaipur, the male physique was a canvas for displaying wealth and energy. This visible grammar of masculinity was a part of the broader South Asian custom the place ornamentation was related to status — not femininity alone.

Sparkle and shine

On the coronary heart of this visible storytelling is Jaipur-based Amrapali Jewels, whose items have been central to a number of defining moments within the sequence. “We’ve all the time seen ourselves as custodians of Indian craftsmanship,” says Tarang Arora, artistic director and CEO of Amrapali Jewels. “The Royals gave us a chance to discover that inside a brand new narrative body.” Curiously, not one of the jewelry was made specifically for the sequence. “We didn’t create any customized items,” says Tarang. “However we did lend jewelry we wouldn’t often half with, particularly a number of the finer items. The truth that it was shot in Jaipur, and that Aastha [Sharma] and Pacho [the current Maharaja of Jaipur] are each shut mates, made this collaboration really feel private.”

The styling all through the present depends on conventional craftsmanship — polki settings, meenakari work, and stone inlay — utilized to characters in ways in which subtly map their positions and transitions. Ishaan Khatter’s coronation look options layered emerald and polki necklaces, classic brooches, and a feathered headpiece, all echoing the grandeur of early Twentieth-century royal portraiture. Bhumi Pednekar wears a restored classic choker with Basra pearls and uncut diamonds — quiet however layered, very like her character’s journey from outsider to insider. Zeenat Aman’s look is steeped in legacy: a basic borla and a necklace of emeralds and rose-cut diamonds — items that really feel inherited, not acquired. Sakshi Tanwar’s ensemble leans closely on Rajput aesthetics — aad choker, nath, hatphool, and full regalia — conveying authority, custom, and ceremonial weight. And, Vihaan Samat’s panchlada necklace, worn throughout formal scenes, displays a extra gender-fluid studying of heritage, whereas Kavya Trehan’s daring aad necklace fuses a bridal silhouette with up to date edge.

In actual life, members of India’s erstwhile royal households nonetheless put on jewelry, although in additional intimate, private methods, says Tarang. “It is dependent upon the outfit and the event,” he says, including, “However sure, royals completely nonetheless put on jewelry, particularly items that carry emotional weight.”

These should not flamboyant equipment for show. They’re heirlooms — grandfather’s coronation buttons, a grandmother’s ring, ceremonial brooches — every with a narrative tied to non-public historical past. “That form of significance lives on,” Tarang notes. “It’s deeply linked to reminiscence and household lineage.”

He additionally factors to a notable shift: males are embracing jewelry once more. “It was all the time maharajas’ jewels,” he says. “Traditionally, it was the boys within the highlight — sporting layers of necklaces, dealing with the courtroom, main processions. Should you look intently as we speak, particularly in tribal communities, males nonetheless get their ears pierced and nonetheless put on jewelry as a part of on a regular basis tradition. Notably, males from the Banjara, Bhil, and Sahariya tribes in and round Jaipur nonetheless put on jewelry. “That custom by no means went away totally,” Arora provides. “Now it’s simply on the rise once more. You see it in The Royals — males sporting elaborate items, not simply on their wedding ceremony day, however for different events too. And so they’re having fun with it.”