Alan Bronstein, natural color diamond association (NCDIA)
President
My favorite song is “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” by Paul Simon. It has such a great rhythm, with African influence. When my three children were babies, I would dance them to sleep every night to the music. They would fall asleep in my arms. It was my happiest experience. To this day, I still dance to the sound unconsciously whenever I hear the tune.
Sally Morrison, Lightbox
Chief marketing officer
I have quite a few: Prince’s “Diamonds and Pearls,” Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust” and Leonard Cohen’s “Diamonds in the Mine” would all be on the list. But I guess if I had to pick just one, it would be “Diamonds and Gold” by Tom Waits. He’s an awesome poet, and the song takes me back to the mid-’80s, when I was first living in New York. What I love is the juxtaposition of the lyrical writing about these two incredibly refined materials with the gravelly edge of his voice and the harsh reality of life on the street.
Paola De Luca, The futurist
Founder and creative director
My favorite song about diamonds is obviously “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” The song is perhaps most famously performed by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.... From today’s perspective, Marilyn portrayed a representation of women of glamour, sexy yet sophisticated. Today, we are in the process of investigating new aesthetic codes, and women are battling for new rights. Diamonds and diamond-jewelry perception represent the evolution of society; from natural diamonds to lab-grown, the industry is beginning to face new challenges; the future is already here.
Ben Macklowe, Macklowe gallery
President
“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” by Paul Simon is my favorite song, but because it’s not about jewelry at all. Paul Simon’s time in South Africa liberated his songwriting to such an extent that he was almost free-associating from one verse to the next. Obviously, since South Africa is the source of most of the diamonds in the world, it is a parable of wealth and privilege existing side-by-side with grinding poverty and want. However, for me, it’s really a song about how people treat one another and if we feel like we are loved, if people care about us, if we belong.
Image: Interfoto/Alamy Stock PhotoArticle from the Rapaport Magazine - November 2018. To subscribe click here.