The New Tiara Etiquette: The Duchess Of Cambridge And Saint Laurent Bring Back The Look

The Duchess Of Cambridge stepped out in one of her most princess-y looks ever last night...

The Duchess Of Cambridge stepped out in one of her most princess-y looks ever last night - a regal red Jenny Packham gown (one of Kate's favourite fashion brands) accessorised with lashings of diamond jewellery. But the look’s crowning glory, if you will, was all in the tiara.

This occasion, a state banquet at Buckingham Palace for the Chinese President, is only the third time that Kate’s ever worn a tiara (excluding dressing up box moments as a kid in Berkshire) and her lack of infatuation with the most royal of all royal accessories, led us to think the dazzling trend was, well, a bit dead.

Tiara’s aren’t new, of course (Kate’s Lotus Flower diamond band used to belong to Princess Margaret and was made of the Queen Mother’s 1923 wedding jewels) and in our modern days of chic minimalism and austerity cuts, dripping with bling was just not the thing for a modern day Duchess to do.

But Kate’s bringing the look back at just the right time as by next spring, we’ll all be embracing something a little sparklier.

In real life (ie. on the catwalk) Saint Laurent designer Hedi Slimane just brought the tiara back with a bang at his SS16 Paris Fashion Week show, dressing all the coolest IT girls from Agyness Deyn to Sam Rollinson. His incarnations – edgy, slightly tarnished and worn over the forehead – were teamed with grungy slip dresses and sheer net layers in an ode to the Courtney Love and the 90s queens who rocked it the first time around. Maybe not something to try at the office (queen for a day, anyone?) but a festival-ready look if ever we’ve seen one.

We doubt we’ll see the Duchess rocking hers with Hunter wellies in a boggy field next Glasto, but never say never. She’s a woman of the people after all…