Yes, it is a tiara

Some time ago, while walking through the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, a small showcase caught my attention. It displayed objects from bygone eras (not uncommon in a museum) and invited visitors to guess the purpose of these items. Special pliers were used to widen the interior of glove fingers, and silver handles with metal hooks were employed to pull on boots or fasten corsets. It made me realise that humanity has invented so many decorative “useful” objects, only to abandon them just as easily with the changing seasons of fashion.

Will the tiara pictured above be the next item of beauty in this line of superfluity? We think not. Designed and skilfully crafted by our ancestors, they believed a tiara was inextricably linked to the "robe de soirée" (French for “evening gown”). The tiara is an unexpected, surprising, and yet very wearable piece of jewellery. While occasions to wear one are few and far between, the tiara is still regarded as both the figurative and literal crown of the robe de soirée, transforming its wearer into the princess of the night.

Click here to get to the descriptive page of this tiara.

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