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The truth about Oscar night is that it can be long and boring. Same goes for the dresses.

But anyone who expects the weakened economy to rain on the red-carpet parade is a wet blanket. If recent awards shows offer any forecast, Oscars 2009 will be all about sparkle and shine.

Indeed, jewellery has emerged as the major wardrobe power player, the most talked-about element in the ooh la la ensemble. Fine jewellery companies are vying for bragging rights, flooding media outlets with information about pieces that come with seven-figure price tags and taking attention away from well-worn gown wars.

At the Golden Globes, for instance, Amanda Seyfried's $1.4-million Ares diamond earrings pretty much eclipsed her Grecian column dress.

The trend means that name-dropping supporting-actress nominee Taraji P. Henson or fashion designer Giambattista Valli is no longer enough for Oscars-watchers. Now you have to know your Lorraine Schwartz from your Loree Rodkin and your Van Cleef from your Neil Lane.

"There are people who are so into fashion and so into jewellery that they want to know — because they want to know," says Sally Morrison, director of the Diamond Information Center, a promotional organization for the U.S. diamond industry. Tomorrow night, a team from the agency will be filling out a form as each actress steps out of her limo (the ride to the Kodak Theatre can be rife with last-minute bling decisions).

Visit the website of any gossip magazine and the red-carpet slide show is now accompanied by close-ups of ears, necks, wrists and fingers. So detailed is the blingformation that one shot on People.com of Leona Lewis's Ippolita bangles on Grammy night reveals her arm hair.

Toronto-based website Firstwaternews.com has become a destination for details about the cut, colour, carat and cost of the baubles worn by Hollywood's glitterati. The site's creator, veteran fashion journalist Bernadette Morra, says she was motivated in part by a dearth of information. "You can't see the jewellery on TV," Morra says. "For so long, it was inexplicably ignored, and now we're waking up to it."

"It's the most escapist item that you're ever going to wear or covet," she adds. "There's a dream factor way beyond what a strapless gown can deliver in terms of fantasy."

Most people know that actresses are merely borrowing the baubles. It's a symbiotic relationship: The stars get their Cinderella moment and the jewellery house becomes a household name.

"People are getting a lot more jewellery-savvy," says designer Loree Rodkin, whose diamond earrings, bracelets and cocktail ring were worn by Michelle Obama on inauguration night. "Jewellery has now become just as important as clothing."

Although not confirmable, she suggests that some jewellery companies pay stars to wear the pieces (as is widely believed to be the case with gowns). "[People] have no idea about the machinations of how things get on celebrities," Rodkin says from Los Angeles.

Morra notes that the lobbying happens year-round and can include cutting a cheque, making a donation to charity or gifting a piece.

But more relevant than the politics of being a designer poster gal (a topic debated every awards season) is the question of whether bling worth hundreds of thousands of dollars seems discordant in difficult times.

Fashion and pop culture pundits say no. "I don't expect that celebrities should be a reflection of real life," says eTalk contributor and laineygossip.com founder Elaine Lui. Along with Tanya Kim and Ben Mulroney, she will be reporting for CTV live from the red carpet.

Lui describes bling on a celebrity as "an embedded ad," which is accepted by "women who need it, want it, have to have it."

And for those who can't have it, US Weekly's fashion director, Sasha Charnin Morrison, takes the look and finds pieces that are comparable — minus a few zeroes.

"The [celebrity] stylist has provided a way to see how these things should be worn," she says from New York, citing the famous Rachel Zoe as an example. "If a dress has ornamentation at the neckline, you're probably not going to want to wear a chunky necklace."

"There is a definite relation between what is worn on the red carpet and the trends in what people buy," adds Morrison from L.A. Red-carpet jewellery, she says, is reality "supersized."

Meanwhile, a few actresses have made a statement by what they choose not to wear. For the Golden Globes, Angelina Jolie opted for a minimalist pair of earrings by Frank Gehry for Tiffany & Co. Kristin Scott Thomas also went with the iconic retailer, but wore layers of 18-karat yellow gold Elsa Peretti Diamonds by the Yard necklaces and several pieces from the Key Collection.

But who's kidding whom? As Lui notes, "bauble watching" is a way of living vicariously: "You don't need to redo your kitchen, but you love watching people redo theirs. Similarly, you don't need that ring but you love watching all the rings you could have."

Or as Rodkin, who will be going to Elton John and Madonna's after-parties, puts it, "We just want to look at them and have them be fabulous and beautiful and that's the end of the story."

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At the Golden Globes

Marisa Tomei wore Neil Lane diamond and gold cluster earrings and six necklaces with darkened diamond balls and pavé balls.

Beyoncé donned a Lorraine Schwartz diamond fringe necklace and diamond drop earrings.

At the Grammy Awards

Gwyneth Paltrow wore an 11-carat heart-shaped diamond ring by Chopard.

Katy Perry sported six-stone princess-cut diamond drop earrings from Jacob & Co. and an H. Stern vintage diamond bracelet.

At the SAG Awards

Anne Hathaway wore Cartier diamond ear clips and a Cartier Paris 1938 diamond double brooch clip bangle.At the BAFTAs

Kate Winslet sported a diamond multi-row Ashoka bracelet and a white and yellow diamond hair clip by Chopard.

Source: Diamond Information Center