In the third episode, a woman lays out jewels for the lady of the house and fastens a diamond fringe necklace around her neck. She is not an actor. She is Rebecca Selva, creative director of Fred Leighton — playing herself, choosing real pieces, in a scene where the character then says her name out loud.
Selva has since explained on the record exactly which pieces she selected and why. That makes this one of the best-documented jewellery scenes in recent television — and it lets us tell you precisely which piece you cannot buy and which one you can.
The scene is real, and so are the jewels
Costume designer Caroline Duncan built the show's jewellery with Selva, pairing Fred Leighton's antique and vintage stock with contemporary pieces from Kwiat.
Selva's own account, given to InStore Magazine, describes both the character brief and the scene:
"Caroline Duncan approached me and I was thrilled when she asked me to be involved in the film. Julianne's character is based on an archetypal mythological goddess. She wears Grecian column dresses and her style is that of timeless elegance."
On the jewellery language she built for the character:
"I chose jewelry that was textural high-karat yellow gold that had an ancient feeling to build on her character through jewelry."
And on episode three itself:
"Caroline asked me to do a preview of a variety of jewels as if I were presenting to a client for a major gala… I chose emerald and diamond pieces as they go so well with her coloring — a Kwiat contemporary diamond riviere necklace and the amazing antique diamond 19th Kokoshnik Fringe Necklace, which is the one I am putting on Michaela's neck, the one she says is too large for her frame."
The show closes the loop: in that scene the character rejects the necklace as too big for her frame and instructs her assistant to call Rebecca from Fred Leighton for more options. The brand and the real person are both named in dialogue.
What you cannot buy
The Kokoshnik fringe necklace is a 19th-century antique, one of one.
It takes its name from the Russian court headdress whose radiating shape it borrows — a graduated fringe of diamonds that stands up from the neck rather than lying flat. That structure is exactly why the character rejects it: on a small frame it dominates. The show is using a real property of the object as a character beat.
We deliberately are not telling you it is sold out. Fred Leighton's site renders its catalogue in a way our checks cannot read, and reporting "unavailable" on that basis would be a guess. For a one-of-a-kind antique, the honest answer is that current availability is a question for the house, not something we can verify from outside.
What you can buy
The other necklace in that scene is contemporary, and Kwiat sells it.
| Piece | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Riviera Demi Necklace, 1ct tw, 18K white gold | $4,990 | Available |
| Riviera Line Necklace, two-prong, 18K white gold | $21,800 | Available |
| Riviera Line Necklace, bezel-set graduated, 18K yellow gold | $31,600 | Available |
| Riviera Line Necklace, four-prong, platinum | $38,000 | Available |
The Demi at $4,990 is the one worth knowing about. A riviera is a continuous line of graduated stones, and the full versions run from twenty-two to thirty-eight thousand dollars. The Demi is the same design language at a fraction of the entry point — the most accessible route into this scene by an order of magnitude.
The emerald and diamond earrings Selva also selected are listed without prices, which at this level means enquiry-only.
The rest of the character's jewellery
Selva's account also identifies pieces worn in episode four, and they are worth listing because they show the logic:
- A 1970s Van Cleef & Arpels vintage chain with a Gemini zodiac pendant
- Victorian Etruscan Revival earrings
- A Jean Mahie 22K hammered gold cuff, engraved with zodiac motifs
Read alongside her stated brief — "textural high-karat yellow gold that had an ancient feeling" — this is coherent design rather than a shopping list. Etruscan Revival is 19th-century jewellery imitating ancient Etruscan goldwork. Jean Mahie's hammered 22K reads as archaeological. The zodiac motifs recur across pieces from different centuries.
The character is being dressed as something older than money. That is a specific idea, executed with real antiques, and it is why the jewellery does more work here than in most prestige television.
The distinction is worth spelling out, because it is the difference between expensive jewellery and meaningful jewellery on screen. New diamonds signal wealth acquired. Antique high-karat gold signals wealth that predates you — objects that were already old when the current owner got them. A character built on a mythological archetype cannot wear this season's collection, because this season is precisely what she is supposed to stand outside of.
That is also why using a working jeweller as herself is more than a cameo. The scene's premise is a private viewing — pieces brought to a client, laid out, tried and rejected. It only reads as authentic because it is authentic: a real specialist, real stock, and a rejection based on a real property of a real necklace.
If you cannot have it
For the antique look: Etruscan Revival is the key term, and it is a real collecting category with genuine supply. Victorian revival pieces come up regularly at auction and at antique dealers, and they are far less expensive than their diamond contemporaries because the value is in goldwork rather than stones. This is the most transferable thing in the article.
For the riviera: the shape is the point — a continuous graduated line, worn close to the throat. At $4,990 the Demi is Kwiat's own entry; below that, the design exists widely in other materials, and the honest note is that a riviera's whole effect depends on the graduation being right. A badly graduated line reads as a tennis necklace.
For the hammered gold cuff: 22K hammered gold is a technique, not a brand. The visual signature is high-karat colour — noticeably warmer and more orange than 18K — and a surface that catches light irregularly.
A caution on markets. All three houses here are US-based. We could not verify international shipping for any of them, so UK, Canadian and Australian readers should treat these as enquiries rather than checkouts. At these prices that is less of an obstacle than it sounds — pieces in this bracket are usually bought in conversation rather than in a basket, and a house that will not ship to you will often still talk to you.
FAQ
Is the jeweller in Sirens a real person? Yes. Rebecca Selva, creative director of Fred Leighton, plays herself in the episode-three scene and personally selected the pieces shown.
What is the necklace Michaela rejects? An antique 19th-century Kokoshnik fringe necklace from Fred Leighton — the one Selva says she is fastening on screen, and which the character calls too large for her frame.
Can I buy the Kokoshnik necklace? It is a one-of-a-kind antique. We could not verify its current availability from outside the house's own catalogue, so that is a question for Fred Leighton directly rather than something we will guess at.
What is the other necklace in that scene? A Kwiat contemporary diamond riviera. Their Riviera Demi in 18K white gold is $4,990; the full riviera line necklaces run $21,800 to $38,000.
Who designed the show's costumes? Caroline Duncan, who built the jewellery in collaboration with Fred Leighton's creative director.
What jewellery does the character wear elsewhere? A 1970s Van Cleef & Arpels chain with a Gemini zodiac pendant, Victorian Etruscan Revival earrings, and a Jean Mahie 22K hammered gold cuff engraved with zodiac motifs.
What was the design brief? Selva describes choosing "textural high-karat yellow gold that had an ancient feeling" to build a character based on an archetypal mythological goddess in Grecian column dresses.
What is the cheapest way into this look? Victorian Etruscan Revival pieces — a genuine antique category where the value sits in goldwork rather than stones, and considerably less expensive than the diamond pieces in the same scenes.