While seemingly antithetical to the current, “Quiet Luxury” trend of today, tiaras and other headwear are making a decided comeback. At the recent Cannes film festival, as reported by Marion Fasel of The Adventurine, Chanel ambassador Margaret Qualley stunned in a star headband from the brand’s High Jewelry collection, and model Isabeli Fontana wore a stunning brooch by contemporary designer, Elsa Jin, as a hair piece. Earlier this year, at the 2024 Met Gala, celebrities from all walks of life rocked headpieces, from subtle flashes of sparkle to over-the-top-ornate.

The history of the tiara can be traced back thousands of years. During the ancient Olympic games, the winners of each event were crowned with an olive wreath made from the leaves of a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus, denoting the competitors’ physical prowess with the leafy crowns. Egyptian Pharaohs and Roman Emperors also donned crowns as symbols of another kind of status, namely wealth, prestige and station. Yet it is commonly believed that it was Napoleon’s wife, Empress Josephine, who wore a tiara for her husband’s coronation in 1804, that set a precedent for wearing jeweled headpieces for official occasions.

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock

In the years that followed, royalty and aristocrats alike began purchasing tiaras to indicate their wealth and status, and as an investment for future generations. Advancements in diamond cutting and the introduction of platinum into jewelry design during the Edwardian era resulted in increasingly intricate designs, and allowed tiara designs to accurately reflect the fashions of the times. The explosion in popularity of tiaras and other head pieces over the years led to other alterations in “practicality,” such as convertible tiaras where the piece could be taken apart and worn in multiple ways.

Matthew Weldon

Our favorite Irish dealer, Matthew Weldon, who showcased the above, convertible Victorian diamond set tiara, circa 1880, during the Original Miami Beach Antique Show (OMBAS), told us, “What is interesting about tiaras too is that the material of the frame is usually made of a silver alloy that is pliable and malleable and can be bent and formed to fit the wearer. This would be in contrast to gold which has a very strong metal memory.”

Rife with symbolism, tiaras were long thought to be the reign of married women, who would wear them on their wedding day, after which it was considered acceptable wear for formal events. At the start of World War II, tiaras, seen as an ostentatious evidence of wealth, fell out of fashion. True to one of their original intentions, tiaras were often dismantled, or simply broken into multiple pieces, with the individual pieces or the included gemstones, diamonds or pearls used as a type of currency. This storied history means that discovering an in-tact, authentic, antique tiara of remarkable provenance is a rarity indeed, and even vintage versions of historically inspired tiaras continue to be coveted.

REX PARSA

For those on the hunt for amazing, head-turning tiaras and hair ornaments, one needs to look no further than one of our U.S. Antique Show Events. The 2024 Las Vegas Antique Jewelry and Watch Show (LVAJWS) was rife with a number of standout tiaras and hair ornaments. Dealer REX PARSA showcased an Ottoman inspired vintage convertible necklace and tiara crafted in oxidized silver over gold featuring earth mined domed rose cut diamonds, while Hakimian Gems showcased a stunning platinum, diamond and natural pearl tiara. Hakimian identified the piece as “late Victorian,” but several comments on our Instagram post conveying this information called its provenance into question, with some claiming the use of platinum means that it must be Edwardian, when platinum was first used in jewelry. (These debates, in our opinion, only add excitement to any discussion about antique jewelry!)

Hakimian

Humphrey Butler showcased a gorgeous, late 19^th century diamond tiara/necklace featuring old mine-cut diamonds in a floral scroll and collet design mounted in silver and gold. The piece boasts a frame and trace-link backchain, which detaches to form three separate sections. The same dealer also had an impressive, late 19th-century diamond tiara featuring a cluster and laurel wreath design, with the central scalloped cluster set with old cushion-shaped diamonds between articulated leaf spray motifs set with old mine-cut diamonds, all mounted in silver and gold. 

Also during the LVAJWS, Matthew Weldon, was excited to showcase an extremely rare 14k gold Georgian suite of hair ornaments of continental European origin set with pink paste, “Paste is hand-cut class, usually lead glass, and I always like to address the paste piece,” Matthew told us. “Some people think it is costume but far from it! Making paste jewels back then was quite an art form. Travelling with gemstones at the time was really risky so often paste suites were made so they could be worn at events all over the world. Also, because they weren’t made of gemstones, they often weren’t taken apart and so entire suites like this one actually survived from the 1820s when gemstone suites were often broken up.” And for those for whom a full blown tiara feels like too big of a statement, this suite of hair ornaments, or a brooch re-purposed for adornment in the hair, could be the perfect bridge to full blown queendom. 

Matthew Weldon