A collection of more than 30 magnificent tiaras are on display at Melbourne’s NGV as part of new exhibition CARTIER, the largest exhibition on the global jewellery house ever staged in Australia.
The exhibition marks the first time in decades that two turquoise and diamond tiaras, worn by famed sisters Lady Nancy Astor and Lady Phyllis Brand, have been presented together.
Born Nancy and Phyllis Langhorne in Virginia, USA, these glamorous sisters became central members of London’s elite political and social circles from the 1910s to the 1930s.
Lady Brand’s tiara (main image above) features a teardrop shaped Boteh motif that originates to Iran, where turquoise was originally mined. The scrolling terminals on each were likely influenced by traditional headdresses worn in Thailand and Cambodia (V&A, 2025). It was commissioned in 1935 by Lady Brand’s husband, Hon. Robert Henry Brand after Phyllis’s sister Nancy loaned her own Cartier turquoise tiara to wear for a court presentation at Buckingham Palace.
Cartier Paris, Tiara, 1908. Private collection © Cartier. Photography Antoine Pividori. Main image: Cartier London, Tiara, 1936. Cartier Collection © Cartier. Photography Vincent Wulveryck
Other tiara highlights include the Sun tiara of 1907 with a 32-carat fancy intense yellow diamond in its centre; and the Art Deco diamond and platinum Halo tiara of 1934, which was inspired by ancient Egypt and owned by Her Highness the Begum Aga Khan III.
The exhibition includes a spectacular display of 24 tiaras displayed in the final gallery.
Cartier London, Tiara, 1937. Cartier Collection © Cartier. Photography Vincent Wulveryck
The tiaras are some of Cartier’s most celebrated creations. The show-stopping display includes Cartier’s celebrated Scroll tiara (1902), crafted in the house’s signature ‘Garland style’ and worn by Lady Clementine Churchill at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and by Rihanna on the cover of W magazine in 2016.
Scroll tiara, 1902. Cartier Collection © Cartier. Photography Nils Herrmann
The exhibition also opens with one of the largest tiaras in the exhibition, the Manchester tiara, commissioned in 1903 by the ‘dollar princess’ Consuelo Montagu, Dowager Duchess of Manchester who supplied all the diamonds herself.
In total the exhibition features nearly 400 extraordinary jewels, timepieces and precious objects, alongside rare archival materials including original design drawings, sketchbooks and photographs direct from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
It explores Cartier’s reputation for design excellence, craftsmanship and technical innovation through a dazzling selection of Cartier creations owned and worn by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Rihanna, Andy Warhol, Princess Margaret, The Duchess of Windsor, Dame Nellie Melba, the Maharaja of Patiala, the Begum Aga Khan III, and heiresses including Daisy Fellowes and Barbara Hutton.
Cartier Paris, Tiara, 1914. Cartier Collection © Cartier. Photography Vincent Wulveryck. With symbolic links to the laurel wreaths of classical antiquity and celestial halos, the tiara has been worn for centuries across cultures from Asia to Europe.
The Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition CARTIER will be on display at NGV International from now until 4 October 2026
