Saturday, June 27, 2015

The Luxarazzi Tiara Race (Luxembourg Edition)

Photo: Christian Aschman / Cour grand-ducale
It's summer, and as summer is always quite a quiet time here on the blog, we thought we would add a little new feature: The Luxarazzi Tiara Race. Now, the tiaras can't actually race but we hope that we will see some close races in you chosing your favourite piece of the Grand Ducal Tiara Collection. To do so in a bit of a fun way, we have come up with a draw: In the first round 32 tiaras will face each other in 16 matches. (Race, match - yeah, I'm throwing a bunch of sporting references all into one hat here; but still, we were pretty serious about this, see the picture below.)
There's not use denying it, we're quite serious about his ;-)
As there aren't actually 32 (publicly known) Luxembourgish tiaras, we added another few into the mix. (I'm sorry Princess Claire, your new ruby tiara didn't quite make it in time for applications.) And thus the Luxarazzi Tiara Race will feature all 28 tiaras included in our post about the tiara collection of the Grand Ducal Family already linked above. This means, it will also include the Lannoy Tiara as well as Queen Ena's Aquamarine Tiara, for example. If you just did your maths correctly, you will now wonder what four other tiaras will be included in the list: Stay tuned, it will be a bit of a surprise for you (though a little hint can be found down below). I can, however, already tell you now that all of them have either been worn by Luxembourgish princesses in the past or could be in the present due to family relations.

The first match of The Luxarazzi Tiara Race will take place tomorrow. We are planning to publish a post each Sunday and each Wednesday. Voting will close on Saturday and Tuesday night respectively.

Before we kick off the tiara tournament tomorrow, we asked a bunch of fellow royal fashion and jewellery bloggers which tiara they think will win, which one is their personal favourite, which one could be the dark horse or which one they don't like at all. Here's what they said:


Tiara I Think Will Win: The Empire Tiara is really in a league of its own, but I think its sheer size might ultimately be a negative for its chances in the Race. I'll go out on a limb and predict that this year's winner will be the Diamond Vine Leaves Tiara. Perfectly proportioned, and with a gorgeous floral design, it has looked beautiful on every member of the family who has worn it. I'm not at all surprised that it's been worn by multiple Nassau family brides!

My Personal Favorite: For me, it's a tie between the Diamond Vine Leaves Tiara and the Grand Duchess Adélaïde Tiara. I just love that the Adélaïde can be worn with different center stones, and I think its design is so beautiful and classic. I love that it's essentially a small kokoshnik, too!

The Dark Horse of the Competition: I think we might see Princess Sibilla's Diamond Art Deco Tiara go far in the competition, even if it's only been worn by one member of the family. That tiara has it all: it's packed with diamonds, it has a lovely design, and it's convertible, too!



I think the Belgian Scroll could take the whole competition, because it's just one of the most classically pretty pieces in the collection. Princess Sibilla's tiara has dark horse potential, with flexibility and a lovely design, just not quite as well known overall. My personal favorite tiara from this collection is usually one of those two, but at the moment I'm quite smitten with the Aquamarine Bandeau. It's one of the best aqua tiaras out there, making great use of the right cut for the stone and throwing a killer parure in as a bonus. It gets my vote!

Valentin of Royalement Blog


I think the Queen Victoria Eugenia's Aquamarine Tiara deserves to win although it is only Princess Sibilla who can wear it in the Grand Ducal Family. This tiara is one element of a whole absolutely stunning parure. The changes undergone by the tiara are particularly successful and these suspended aquamarines give a remarkable aerial impression. Too bad we don't often see it, but could this parure stay in the Sibilla's family in the next decades? 

My preference goes to the Grand Duchess Adélaïde Tiara. It's a jewel I appreciate to rediscover every time it is worn by the ladies of the family, most when the tiara is combined with sapphire earrings as did Princess Tessy in 2012. I like so much the intensity of the large sapphire which is placed in the center of a finest work mixing leaves and berries made of brilliant and rose-cut diamonds. 

The Sapphire Art Deco Tiara is for me decidedly the least pleasing one of the competition. Even if it reflects, I guess, Joséphine-Charlotte's will to have a more contemporary piece in her case, I have the greatest difficulty to lend aesthetic qualities to this piece whose both elements located on either side of the enormous sapphire remind me handcuffs. And the impression it's not really better when it's worn as a necklace... 


Which tiara I think will win? Well, I think that in royal tiaras game, there are those beautiful pieces and the imposing ones. Without a doubt that at Luxarazzi Kingdom and in the world of royalty in general it is impossible to remain indifferent to the Luxembourg Empire Tiara. Come one, there is not the slightest hypothesis it goes unnoticed. It’s the tiara that puts the "Grand" prefix to the Grand Duchy. It is the BIG GUN of the Nassau vaults and my bet to win this competition. 

What is my favorite tiara? Hard to tell. There are lots of delicate, simple and elegant tiaras among these. I’m a pearls and diamonds tiara kind of girl. There are very few, but indeed very few, colorful stones tiaras I actually like. I can´t resist to a good old fashioned Fringe tiara, especially if they come with the Habsburg name (Sissi madness and all…) so I think I simple love the Habsburg Fringe Tiara. But I very much appreciate also versatility so I think it´s a tie between the Fringe and the Diamond Art Deco Tiara of Princess Sibilla. It´s wonderful to have two tiaras in one single piece. Can I actually declare a tie? Please???? 

Least pleasing? Well, I must say I was hugely disappointed with the Lannoy Tiara. I get the sentimental thing, but it was almost a toy tiara for an ELIE SAAB wedding gown!!! I hate the piece and honestly I hope never see it again. The recent small butterfly tiara that Stephanie wore actually also isn't to me taste.

And now? It's up to you: Leave us a comment below which tiara you think will win The Luxarazzi Tiara Race, which tiara is your personal favourite, which one the dark horse of the competition and which one you don't like at all.

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