The Attallah cross, a blinding amethyst and diamond necklace once worn by Princess Diana, was recently acquired by America’s version of Royalty: Kim Kardashian. The Skims mogul, who reportedly purchased the jewelry piece for $197,453 in a January 2023 auction, just re-posted a photo shared by Maison Margiela’s Image Director in which she could be seen wearing the rare necklace.
Kardashian appeared to be sporting the cross, created by the jeweler Garrard in the 1920s, while outfitted in a custom John Galliano for Margiela gown. It looks as though Kardashian was considering wearing the crucifix necklace and this Margiela number for May’s Met Gala.
Of course, Kardashian is no stranger to wearing late icon’s belongings on the red carpet—remember that Marilyn Monroe dress?—and this particular necklace would have been one of the 2024 Gala’s more talked-about fashion choices. She instead settled on another Galliano Margiela design which nearly broke the Internet. But who’s to say she won’t find an occasion to wear this pendant out in the wild?
Before Kardashian was the owner of the Attallah cross, it was worn by Princess Diana for several Royal appearances. She famously pulled out the blinding necklace for a 1987 charity gala in which she paired it with a Catherine Walker dress.
It was loaned to the Princess by her friend Naim Attallah who bought the piece in the ’80s. According to Attallah’s son Naim, Diana was the only person to ever wear the necklace. “When I was growing up, we’d always have it on the table for Christmas lunch, but it was never worn by anyone other than Diana and it hasn’t been seen in public since she died,” he said last year.
The piece, according to Sotheby’s head of jewelry Kristian Spofforth, marked a turning point in Diana’s life as she started to take more risks with her personal style. “Jewelry owned or worn by the late Princess Diana very rarely comes on to the market, especially a piece such as The Attallah cross” Spofforth said. “To some extent, this unusual pendant is symbolic of the princess’s growing self-assurance in her sartorial and jewelry choices, at that particular moment in her life.”
This isn’t the first time Kardashian has come out on the winning end of a high-profile fashion auction. In 2021, she purchased Janet Jackson’s outfit from her 1993 music video “If” for $25,000. Two years prior, she gifted North (then six) a velvet jacket Michael Jackson once wore while out with Elizabeth Taylor.
Between those pieces and her Princess Diana necklace, Kim has clearly building quite the archive for herself.
