Kim K’s $300K Attallah Cross necklace originally belonged to Princess Diana

Kim Kardashian loves a good then and now moment. And at a time when the exclusivity of the vintage and the heirloom appears to be peaking in terms of trends in the luxury space, what better what to capitalise on it than to give a statement archival piece from the decades past, another flash of public congnisance. For the LACMA Art + Film Gala held on November 2 in Los Angeles, Kim K did just that. The millionaire SKIMS mogul finally put one of her big bill purchases to good use, using it as the focal point of her ensemble for the LA gala. Dressed in a pristine white Gucci couture number, flanked by a draped-off trench, also in white, the plunging neck of her look stood symmetrically framed with the bejeweled Attallah Cross necklace.
And as you already know, Kim’s neck isn’t the first that the Attallah Cross has framed so elegantly. The piece was first — the one time — spotted on Princess Diana back in October 1987 for a charity ball in London held in honour of Birthright, a charity working towards the protection of human rights during pregnancy and childbirth. How did Kim get her hands on such an exclusive piece then, you ask? She bided on it during a 2023 Sotheby’s auction for a very well-deserved price tag of $298,682.
In all of it’s two, rather momentous public sightings, the Amethyst crucifix has been the centre point of two very varied aesthetics. While in Kim’s look the pendant was dramatically and very effectively used to break the monotony of the all-white ensemble, in the case of Princess Diana, the Attallah Cross became a case of matching jewel to tone. Princess Diana’s self-determined brief for the night was very evidently some medieval drama, and so she committed to it in her black and burgundy velveteen Catherine Walker gown, complete with a high-ruff neck. The Attallah Cross adorned her torso, melding in with the look, yet for obvious reasons, seriously standing out.
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The one-of-a-kind piece of course, has had it’s own history. Created in 1920 by court jewellers Garrard, it was bought by, and later loaned to the Princess by her dear friend, the late Naim Attallah, a British businessman and writer. The pendant is clearly an heirloom piece, with Ramsay Attallah, son to Naim, weighing in with his own recollections of it — “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 recalled, as per a Vogue India report.
Studded with 11 square-cut Amethysts and lined with gold, silver and a retinue of circular-cut diamonds, the pendant is clearly as much a head turner and conversation starter now, as it was more than 4 decades ago.