In Luca Guadagnino’s gripping psychological thriller, “After the Hunt,” Julia Roberts portrays a Yale professor whose impeccable yet understated style speaks volumes. Her character’s practical wardrobe of cream suits, wide-leg jeans, blazers, and classic button-up shirts is subtly accented by a collection of chunky gold jewelry, hinting at a hidden depth beneath her composed exterior.
This is where the talents of Italian designer Ilaria Icardi shine. Her eponymous jewelry line adorns Roberts’s character throughout the film, featuring exquisite pieces like an 18-karat ribbed gold bracelet (price available upon request), a sophisticated gold magnifying glass pendant on a long chain (valued at $10,630), and a striking enamel and diamond ring ($15,041).
Fashion has always been an integral part of Guadagnino’s cinematic vision. His previous film, “Challengers,” showcased costumes by Jonathan Anderson, the acclaimed Dior designer. Guadagnino possesses a unique ability to champion emerging designers, elevating them to international prominence.
“Luca is a fantastic friend,” Icardi shared via Zoom from her vacation on Pantelleria, a volcanic Italian island popular with the European fashion elite, where Guadagnino shot his 2015 film, “A Bigger Splash.” She recalled, “They told me, ‘Your pieces are going to support the character.’ I sent them seven, maybe eight pieces, and they used almost all of them.”
Ilaria Icardi’s jewelry collection—featuring elegant chain necklaces, unique pendants, and distinctive signet rings—is deeply personal. Each piece draws inspiration from cherished trinkets she’s collected during her travels and designs from her father’s extensive archive.
The film’s premiere at the New York Film Festival coincides with Milan Fashion Week, a busy time for Icardi, who also holds the demanding position of design director for women’s wear at Prada.
Icardi, 53, grew up in Valenza, a northern Italian town renowned for its fine jewelry craftsmanship. Her father, Umberto Icardi, launched his own jewelry line there in the late 1960s. Ilaria later moved to Milan to study fashion, spending subsequent decades working between the vibrant fashion capitals of Paris and London.
Her impressive career includes developing the first women’s ready-to-wear collection for Hugo Boss in the 1990s and a decade-long tenure at Yves Saint Laurent, where she collaborated with design legends Tom Ford and Stefano Pilati from 2001.
In 2012, Icardi took on the role of design director under Phoebe Philo at Celine, splitting her time between London and Paris. “I wanted to escape and have an adventure,” she recounted with a casual shrug.
“We had a very close relationship,” she said of Philo, with whom she worked until 2013. “She’s obviously very demanding, and it was like a start-up at the beginning. So it was intense.”
Giulia Piersanti, the costume designer for “After the Hunt,” noted, “There is a subtle masculine allure to her wardrobe choices — very few pieces, but each carefully chosen.”
Icardi explained, “When you work for a company, it’s not always necessary that you are connected with what you design. But for the first time, I really loved the product that we were designing — it was minimal but not really minimal — the women we were designing for, everything we were trying to build.”
After the birth of her daughter, now 12, Icardi chose to remain in London, where she became design director for Victoria Beckham. She described Beckham as “a lovely person who gave me a lot of freedom and trust.” Her career later led her to Bottega Veneta.
Icardi attributes the liberating style of London to her own approach. In Italy, she observed, “we dress for the occasion. We dress! In Paris, they are very cultured, very chic, but there is more control.”
Given her background working behind the scenes, her design philosophies are subtly integrated into the brands she contributes to. “I always love a touch of classicism,” she stated. “A double-breasted jacket, a T-shirt, denim. I like something that you throw on.”
“And I applied that to the jewelry line, to put something that is good taste maybe close to something bad taste,” she elaborated. “I like the clash of the two.”
She began developing her own jewelry line just before the pandemic struck in 2020. “It was really homemade,” she reminisced. “I was just going to jump into a little adventure.” Collaborating with her gemologist brother, Lorenzo Icardi, she launched a small collection inspired by her travels and cherished pieces from her father’s archive.
Ilaria Icardi is pictured at her Milan home in September, surrounded by her work and inspirations.
Among her early admirers was Giulia Piersanti, who would later become the costume designer for “After the Hunt.”
“Julia Roberts’s character, Alma, has an effortless and almost uniform-like style,” Ms. Piersanti conveyed in an email. “There is a subtle masculine allure to her wardrobe choices — very few pieces, but each carefully chosen. I found that Ilaria’s jewelry would fit this intent while also elevating her looks.”
Icardi herself proudly wore a handmade gold chain during the interview. “From my papa,” she said, touching it fondly. Her personal collection also includes a charming gold spaceman pendant and a functional gold whistle pendant.
“I use it to call my daughter when she doesn’t listen to me,” she quipped, then clarified, “No, I like it as an object, and it also comes from this core of things I used to play with when I was little.”
Currently, Icardi values the intimate scale of her brand. “I have, let’s say, 100 clients all around the world,” she shared. “They can purchase something, and then they come back and ask me to maybe reset something. So there is a real connection and like a relationship. I really like that.”