Chapter 28: Why Don't You Wear a Tiara?
Chapter 28: Why Don't You Wear a Tiara?
Thinking about Miu Miu, Simone Rocha and Tarina Tarantino's takes on tiaras.
In Sofia Coppola’s first short film Lick the Star (1998), the protagonist-turned-antagonist popular girl wears a huge crystal tiara with a button-down starched Ralph Lauren shirt and thick lace midi skirt. Dark lipstick. Hair braided on both sides of her head. Matching crystal necklace and earring set that looks as if it was pulled from the back room of an antique shop or a wealthy grandmother’s neatly organized drawer. Mature cigarette flicking off in hand, off-set by saccharine layered plastic bracelets on the same wrist. Flat, sturdy leopard print bag, swinging tote bag and little Mary Jane ballerinas. Queen of Cool.
The tiara says so much while doing so little. When did we stop wearing them? Some of the greatest icons of our time (read: not royals) used to wear them.
Think: Courtney Love, Paris Hilton, Audrey Kitching, Naomi Campbell and Vivienne Westwood. I have a feeling the tiara is coming back. Even if it’s not, we should collectively bring it back. Let it not be for drab royals and dusty debutantes, but for everyone under the sun. We should be wearing them on the dimly lit subway, by the concrete poolside and in grocery stores… why not wear them to work, if you have a traditional office job? With the Met Gala coming up next month, I also expect (hope) to see some tiaras on the red carpet done in unusual and stylized ways.
Paris Hilton told Glamour of her tiara obsession in 2017, “I’ve been wearing tiaras my whole life. I think I was born with one on. I love being feminine and sparkly and confident, and when you wear a tiara, you feel even more that way. You feel like a princess. I see so many people wearing them now, but back then, no one wore tiaras. I’d go to [cult New York City stores] Patricia Field and Hotel Venus or other random little places by myself or with my sister and find these really cool pieces. I didn’t even have a stylist; I just wore what I loved. I probably have over 200. I keep them in these glass crystal cases with the light coming in. When I was in that Tink-Barbie stage, I wore them all the time, but I’ve evolved in the past few years. The look’s no longer about that little tiara I used to wear. It’s more like a crown or a headband that looks like a tiara. And now it’s only for special occasions, like a birthday, New Year’s, a wedding, a rave maybe. Coachella. But I would definitely say that you shouldn’t wear a tiara to a funeral. That would be very inappropriate.”
Earlier this year, I couldn’t get the original Tarina Tarantino Hello Kitty tiara out of my mind. So much so that I made a video charting it and the brand’s mini history. And then, earlier this month, the brand collaborated with Marc Jacobs to create a one-off edition of the fabled accessory (which sold out within the first three minutes of launching). Tarina Tarantino’s crystal kitsch tiaras are exactly the kind of tiaras I want to see out and about.
But it’s also important to remember my favorite kinds of tiaras for daily wear. Simone Rocha and Miu Miu have been fueling the tiara discourse and aesthetic since the mid 2010s. These are a few of my favorite things. I’m partial to Miu Miu’s spring 2016 collection which will forever be drilled into my mind. It’s the glam rock moodiness, the tortured ballerina, the emo scene queen who is high on high fashion of it all.
Almost every single model wore shiny plastic geometric tiaras alongside gingham checks, fur stoles and sheer layers, their lips painted like dark voids. Miuccia Prada said the show was about, “irrationality,” adding, “The times we are in are extreme. There’s conservatism on both the right and left in politics. And then, people look for escapes from it, attracted to strange religious beliefs or underground clubs and music.” Most of these runway collections that include tiaras riff off the Kinderwhore aesthetic of the late ‘80s and ‘90s, combining girlish subversion with punk and grunge subcultures.
Another great Tiara moment was Miu Miu Resort 2012, which was released as a lookbook rather than shown as a runway show. The imagery had a vibe of excess and opulence, with crystal flower tiaras, matching necklaces, earrings and rings piled together with mesh gloves.
I will also never forget the vivid dreamlike Tiaras by Meadham Kirchhoff. There’s been so many other countless iconic tiara moments in fashion… Saint Laurent’s spring 2016 grunge goddesses. Naomi Campbell for Christian Dior Haute Couture fall 2007. And Heatherette forever.
The tiara also feels in total, stark opposition of 2023’s obsession with flat, stretchy headbands, and that’s why I think they’re going to come back in full force soon. Heading into a recession and economic collapse, it’s the kind of irony I fully support, and history repeats itself with extravagantly wild clothing in times of uncertainty.
In 2016, Fashionista asked the very valid question of, “can you wear a fashion tiara without feeling like an asshole?” It depends on who you ask, really, but so long as you play with contrasts and make it more messy and weird and less prim and polished, I think it works.
Maybe, a tiara in today’s world has no deeper meaning than a headband. Royals exist but they’re fading, and even the modern debutante ball has been reimagined into something akin to a fashion show rather than a stately, marry-them-off event. The funny thing is, both times I wore tiara-like headbands, here in New York in August and in Paris in March, people at restaurants automatically assumed it was my birthday and gave me a celebratory free cake with a candle to blow out, without even asking to confirm. How funny is that? Is there any other accessory that has that kind of effect? I don’t think so. Call it the tiara effect.
Vintage and new tiaras to wear and cherish right now…
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