Aurate x Marilyn Monroe: Lab Grown Red Marquise Tennis Necklace

What it is

Aurate's collaboration with the Marilyn Monroe estate isn't the first celebrity estate licensing deal in jewelry, but it's one of the better-executed ones. Rather than slapping a face on a pendant and calling it a day, the team actually thought about what Marilyn stood for — maximalism, femininity as power, the red-lipped statement — and built a necklace around that idea.

The result: a tennis necklace made up of alternating lab-grown marquise red rubies and white sapphires, set in yellow gold vermeil. The marquise cut is the key differentiator here. Every other tennis necklace you've seen uses round stones in a continuous row. The elongated, pointed marquise stones give this piece a vintage-couture rhythm — more 1950s Hollywood than 2024 minimalism. It photographs beautifully and reads as genuinely distinctive on the neck.

The stones

Let's be precise: these are lab-grown rubies and sapphires, not natural. Lab-grown corundum is chemically identical to mined stones — same hardness, same light behavior, same vivid color. What you lose is the geological rarity premium and, for natural rubies especially, the collector resale value. What you gain is a much richer red at a price that doesn't require a jewelry appraisal before purchase. At this price point, natural marquise rubies of this quality would cost multiples more. The tradeoff is fair.

The color on the rubies reads as a true deep red in most lighting — not the washed-out pinkish-red that plagues cheaper lab stones. The white sapphires do their job as spacers and light-catchers without trying to pass as diamonds.

The setting and materials

Here's where we have to be honest with you: this is gold vermeil, not solid gold. Vermeil is sterling silver with a thick gold plating (typically at least 2.5 microns per FTC guidelines). Aurate is one of the more conscientious vermeil brands — they use thicker-than-minimum plating and their quality control is consistent — but vermeil will wear over time, particularly at friction points like the clasp and wherever it rests against skin and clothing. At $618, you're buying a stunning-looking necklace, not a forever heirloom in the metallurgical sense.

If you wear it for special occasions and store it properly (away from moisture, in a pouch), it will hold its finish for years. If you're someone who puts on jewelry in the morning and takes it off at night only, build in the expectation that replating or natural patina may come into play within five to seven years of regular rotation.

The fit

At 16 inches, this sits as a choker-adjacent length — it will fall right at or just below the collarbone on most people. That's intentional and very much the right call for this design: the marquise stones need to be at the throat to read as the statement piece they are. At 18 or 20 inches, this would lose its visual impact. But if you typically wear longer necklaces or have a broader neck, check your current 16-inch pieces before ordering.

Bottom line on value

Six hundred and eighteen dollars is not cheap jewelry money. But the Aurate x Marilyn necklace is doing something most jewelry at this tier isn't: genuine design novelty. The marquise ruby tennis format doesn't exist at a lower price point with this level of finish. If you're someone who notices when a piece has actual point of view, this is worth it.