Whilst assembling the diamondthrills jewellery collection I’ve been thinking about tiaras. Should we feature them?  Are they right for diamondthrills?  Would people hire a diamond tiara for their wedding day?

The prospect of tiaras throws up a bit of a conundrum.  On the one hand, a tiara can be a classy piece of bridal jewellery, but then again, they can be – well, let’s try to put this politely – tiaras can be a bit chavvy.  OK, I didn’t put that politely, but I think the point is made.  [non-UK readers who need a bit of help with 'chavvy' - click here]

Search for tiaras online and you get a long list of bridal accessory suppliers offering up diamante / crystal / rhinestone creations, sometimes promising a handmade tiara, more often not looking handmade at all but apparently mass produced in the Far East and yours for well under £100, perhaps as little as £10 or £20.

Mostly these tiaras will be used at weddings as bridal jewellery, perhaps adorning bridesmaids or flower girls as well as the beaming bride.  Tiaras are also worn at beauty pageants, although thankfully these are less commonplace here in the UK than they are across the Atlantic.

Now this kind of thing is clearly a long way from the more traditional upscale place of tiaras in high society.

Tiaras actually started out as a form of ‘diadem’ or crown – specifically a high crown – in ancient Assyria, Mesopotamia and Egypt.  They were sometimes made of leather or fabric, and richly ornamented.

Tiaras are reported to have adorned the heads of royal mummies in Egypt, and they were used by the Greeks to crown statues.  Tiaras were awarded to victors of sporting contests and used to signify rank and status by the Romans.

The Catholic Church adopted the tiara as an adornment for its Pope – the Papal Tiara, a high cap surrounded by three crowns with a globe surmounted by a cross.  The Papal Tiara was last worn by Paul VI who was Pope from 1963 to 1978.

Tiaras were worn by women of the court in Napoleonic France, and the growing prosperity of the 19th century saw tiaras become more popular across Europe and with Russian aristocracy.  The 19th century was also the time when tiaras first became associated with weddings.

The Queen is said to have the largest and most valuable – probably priceless – collection of tiaras in the world, many of which are heirlooms of the British Royal family.  Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra (queen consort to Edward VII) were both avid fans and wearers of tiaras.

The modern tiara is usually a semi-circular band made of metal and decorated with all kinds of jewels, gems, beads etc.  Tiaras are generally used on very formal or high social occasions, which for most of us means weddings.

Which brings us back to tiaras and diamondthrills. Of course brides do wear diamond tiaras on their wedding day but these are often family heirlooms.  It’s not yet apparent to us that there is any demand for hiring diamond tiaras for weddings (or indeed for beauty pageants…), whereas we do know that demand exists for hiring earrings, necklaces/pendants and bracelets/bangles.

So the diamondthrills collection of fine diamond jewellery will not, at least initially, include any tiaras.

What do you think?  Should we think about adding diamond tiaras to the collection?  Would that be classy or chavvy?  Tell us what you think!

Two more random things about tiaras before I sign off from this post –

1.  Tiara is used a popular girl’s name in many places around the world (apparently especially popular amongst models from Malaysia/Indonesia)

2.  Probably the most notable deployment of a tiara in fiction: superheroine Wonderwoman is usually shown wearing a tiara, but she wears hers across her forehead rather than perched on top of the head.  Wonderwoman also put her ‘magic tiara’ to use as a weapon: a deadly boomerang.

Additional material from Wikipedia.