Awards
The Sarah Siddons Awards feature in the very beginning of the film as a symbol of belonging in the industry. Eve sees Margo for the first time as she exits the awards, and spends the rest of the film chasing after that same glamour and fame. At the end of the film, Phoebe holds up the award as a symbol of her own ambition.
Cigarettes
While Margo and all of the other theater elite -- notably, in the very first scene, the all-knowing Addison-- frequently smoke throughout the film, Eve does not, until she leaves the Sarah Siddons awards. Cigarettes are a symbol of cynicism: Eve only smokes when she has shed her naivete and has become jaded and lonely.
Fine Clothes
The aspiring actresses of the film seem to hold fine clothes -- Margo's costume and expensive furs, and Eve's awards robe -- as a symbol of that success. Eve, who begins the film in a cheap, rain-soaked coat and hat, spends much of the film desiring these clothes and the status of the Hollywood elite that wear them.
Hands
In the opening scene, the aging actor focuses on Eve's hands, calling them young, inexperienced, but beautiful. At the same time, Margo's dissatisfied table fiddles with their hands -- touching drinks, doodling, etc. Hands appear as a form of contrast between both sides -- the restless hands of the jilted starlet and her friends, and the serene, unmarried hands of the newly crowned.
Alcohol
Alcoholic drinks are a motif throughout the film, appearing as a sign of both decadence and numbness. As Eve accepts her award, Margo clutches her drink as a method of coping. At several parties, the elite all hold drinks, something Eve imitates later, when she is as established, wealthy, and unhappy as the rest of them.
