The Case of Kim Kardashian’s Courtroom Diamonds

It was always going to be about the diamonds. They were, after all, at the center of the case.

But when Kim Kardashian arrived at a Paris court on Tuesday as the star witness in the trial of the “grandpa robbers” — the men accused of entering her luxury residence in the small hours of the morning in October 2016, tying her up and making off with over $9 million in jewels, including a $4 million diamond ring — what was less expected were the diamonds on her body.

To be specific: the $3 million, 52.17-carat necklace by Samer Halimeh she was wearing on her neck, the sparkling white gold and diamond pavé cuff by Briony Raymond on her ear, the rock on her finger and the twinkling anklet.

They stood out both against the severe black of her peplumed skirt suit, and in the environs of the courtroom, where the usual attire leans more toward generic business mufti and where conventional wisdom has it that discretion is the better part of strategy. At least when it comes to the sort of accessories that could potentially prejudice the opinions of a judge or jury.

If anyone understands the power of the image, however, it is Ms. Kardashian, who has built her career in part by selling her own visual drama — her body, booty and face. At the same time, she also understands the expectations of the law: She has lobbied for prison ıslahat, passed the so-called baby bar in California and declared her intention to become a lawyer. Both of which would suggest that her decision to arrive in court bedecked in the sort of gems normally reserved for a black-tie evening event was a deliberate, if unconventional, choice.

Maybe the jewels were a statement of defiance in the face of the men who robbed her; a sign that, whatever they took, Ms. Kardashian has recouped the loss and then some. Maybe they were a symbol of her own return from fear to embrace an even brighter, more glamorous, future.