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New York, NY--With the passing of Elizabeth Taylor on March 23, the jewelry industry lost a classic icon. Fittingly, in one of her last interviews before her death, jewelry was one of topics she discussed with reality-TV celebrity Kim Kardashian in the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar. (A note of trivia: GIA graded the Taylor-Burton diamond twice.) Here are some jewelry-focused excerpts of the interview; it can be found in its entirety here. It’s worth taking a moment to read her perspective and remember why we’re all in this business:

Kim Kardashian: You are my idol. But I’m six husbands and some big jewels behind. What should I do?

Elizabeth Taylor: I never planned to acquire a lot of jewels or a lot of husbands. For me, life happened, just as it does for anyone else. I have been supremely lucky in my life in that I have known great love, and of course I am the temporary custodian of some incredible jewels.

KK: You have the world’s most iconic jewelry collection. Of your three most famous diamond rings, which one means the most?

ET: The Krupp [diamond] is an extraordinary stone. It has such life and brilliance when light shines through it. Size does matter, but so does the size of the emotin behind it.

KK: What has been your greatest jewelry adventure?

ET: I have had many. I was especially thrilled to buy the Prince of Wales plume pin at the 1987 auction of the jewelry of the Duchess of Windsor. I really wanted to have it in my collection, because I admired her great style so much and because the money from the sale went to support AIDS research. I bid from my house in L.A., and when they told me I had won it, I thought, ‘yes, this was really meant to be in my care, at least for a while.’

KK: What are your favorite looks, on or off screen?

ET: I love the easy glamour of wearing jewelry all the time.