Kim Kardashian is a noted lover and collector of fashion history, plucking rare items from the archives and reviving them on the red carpet. Of course, her wearing a dress of Marilyn Monroe’s at the 2022 Met Gala was one prime example, but this weekend yielded another: At the star-studded LACMA gala in Los Angeles last night, Kardashian appeared in the Attallah cross pendant once worn by Princess Diana, a necklace that has since become one of the royal’s most famous accessories. Kardashian wore it with a plunging low-cut gown by Gucci, complete with a shawl cape and pearl chokers.
The story of Princess Diana’s Attallah cross dates back to 1987, when she attended a charity gala in London wearing the statement piece. First created back in the 1920s by Garrard, one of Princess Diana’s favorite jewelers, the pendant is made of gold, silver, amethyst, and diamonds. It was loaned to Princess Diana for the event by businessman and writer Naim Attallah, a close friend of hers, and she wore it with an Elizabeth-style Catherine Walker gown.
Last year, Kardashian purchased the Attallah cross (for $197,453!) when it went up for auction at Sotheby’s—marking her first time publicly bidding on archival jewelry associated with the British royal family. (A few years earlier, in 2021, Kardashian had purchased another kind of pop history: an outfit worn by Janet Jackson in her “If” music video, for $25,000.) While she has owned the Attallah cross for well over a year now, Kardashian’s appearance at the LACMA Gala was her first time taking it out on the road. And leave it to Kardashian to style it in a way that felt totally her own.
