Damson Idris wore a self-designed Rainbow Maxi Necklace at the 2026 Met Gala, turning the museum fundraiser into a showcase for the actor’s growing jewelry work. The piece was set with 18 different precious and semi-precious stones and built on an 18-karat gold trace chain.
Idris, who runs the fine jewelry brand DIDRIS, has made a point of designing his own pieces. Last year, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute fundraiser, he introduced the first DIDRIS piece, a set of brooches resembling a pocket watch. Those brooches featured an 11-carat emerald surrounded by 18 channel-cut tourmalines and 238 tsavorites and diamonds.
He has said the move into luxury jewelry was shaped by a personal connection to the business. Earlier this year, Idris said his mother and her experience in the jewelry industry inspired him to get into it. He also said, “The first [designer] shoes I ever bought were Prada, so it was a seamless connection,” and added that other ventures can feel like “a money grab,” insisting, “The story is everything.”
That idea has become the thread running through his fashion and jewelry work. Idris is a Prada house ambassador and wore a custom black leather coat with red poplin tuxedo cuff detailing, an antiqued red leather top, black leather trousers and matching lace-up derby shoes at the Met Gala. The event has become a recurring stage for his designs, and the necklace only deepened that link.
Idris has described breaking into high-end jewelry as a “real trial,” but the brand is no side project. He is next set to appear in Children of Blood and Bone, slated for release in January 2027, and is attached to play Miles Davis in Bill Pohlad’s Miles & Julietet. For now, the Met Gala answered its own question: the necklace was not just an accessory, but a declaration that damson idris is building a jewelry identity of his own.