What’s a girl to do when her daily driver, a Lamborghini Aventador covered in over 2 million Swarovski crystals, is damaged in a crash? If that girl is Daria Radionova, she gets an equally eye-catching replacement. And then upgrades that one, too.
There’s a new, blinged-out luxury ride making waves on social media following a string of appearances in Central London, UK, and it’s the most eye-catching Rolls-Royce Wraith you’re likely to see all week. Its two-tone wrap is not the most impressive thing about it because that’s not a wrap: those are real Swarovski crystals, set in by hand in order to create this gradient effect.
One of the most recent videos of the Wraith on social media (the first one available at the bottom of the page) has over 4.5 million views as of the time of press. “Rolls-Royce covered in diamonds!” the caption proudly announces, but, of course, those are not real diamonds. That doesn’t make the custom job less impressive or, depending on who you ask, more impractical and tacky.
Though the video doesn’t say who owns this “diamond”-covered Rolls, it’s not hard to track it down. There is only one person in London who has the “DAR 11A” license plate on all her vehicles, and that person is Daria Radionova, an Instagram model and influencer, businesswoman and self-professed gearhead, and lover of all things glittery.
Photo: Instagram / Daria Radionova
By Radionova’s own account, this is her fifth crystallized car: she started off with a white Mercedes CLS, then moved on with a partially-crystallized Bentley, followed it up with a red-crystal Lamborghini Huracan, and then a black Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. That last one is also the most famous of the lot: she called it “The Panther,” and she would show it off whichever chance she got, whether at car meets in London or Monaco or on social media.
Customized over four months, it had more than 2 million Swarovski crystals on it, which turned it into the kind of car Batman would drive if she were a (rich) girl. That last part is a paraphrased description from the guys who customized the Aventador, the Cars in Cloaks shop in London.
In late 2021, the Aventador was totaled in a crash caused by a runaway Vauxhall Zafira. Radionova took to social media to lament the fate of her Panther and ask her followers for help in tracking down the driver who smashed into it. No word on whether he or she was ever found, but Radionova soon found the perfect thing to drown her sorrow with, and it wasn’t at the bottom of a tall Martini glass.
In early 2022, Cars in Cloaks announced a new special project, which they called the Silver-Back. Four months later, in June, they revealed that the codename stood for a new Swarovski custom job for Radionova, a Rolls-Royce Wraith they covered in more than 1 million crystals. Unlike the Aventador, the customization didn’t extend to the entire body of the car but only to the hood, roof, and trunk. Still, it was something new because the crystals started black and ended gray. Hence the Silver-Back name.
Photo: Instagram / Cars in Cloaks
Also, then, the Wraith was dubbed the world’s first two-tone crystallized Rolls-Royce, though there is no official confirmation of that. If another such vehicle exists, its existence hasn’t been broadcast to the world. The big unveiling took place in Central London – where else?! – at Harrod’s, in front of a large crowd. Radionova had personally asked people to come out to see her new car, and as you can see in some of the videos below, she even let them touch it to feel the gems under the protective coat of paint.
No word on how much she paid for the customization, but among the figures thrown about on social media and the local newspapers, £400,000 ($486,000 at the current exchange rate) is the one that pops up more frequently. Then again, Radionova was never the kind to show restraint when it comes to spending big on projects like this one.
A little over two months ago, the influencer took to Instagram to reveal another surprise regarding her still-new ride: it had undergone another transformation and was now fully covered in crystals. “When 1 Million crystals on my #RollsRoyce was not enough…,” she wrote in the caption to a brief video showing the car in motion. You guessed it, that’s the same “diamond”-covered Rolls that became a viral star this week when it was spotted out on the town.
Photo: Instagram / Daria Radionova
Back in 2019, while doing interviews on the now-defunct Panther Aventador, Radionova said she didn’t plan to hang on to it for too long because she’d set her sights on a Swarovski Bugatti, which she’d already started making plans for it. This Wraith is no Bugatti, but it’ll probably have to do until she gets it.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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