Princess Diana adopted this jewellery hack way before Kate Middleton did

(Image credit: Anwar Hussein)
Penny Goldstone
By Penny Goldstone
published

We all know Princess Diana was the first one to really through the royal style rule book out the window, from shunning gloves to wearing two watches, amongst other fashion secrets.

And it turns out she was doing the hi-lo jewellery thing way before Kate Middleton wore a Zara necklace to the Nelson Mandela biopic premiere.

Apparently, she was a massive fan of costume jewellery, and would go on regular shopping trips to London boutique Butter & Wilson.

According to New York writer Diane Clehane, author of Diana: The Secrets of Her Style, the late Princess picked up a pair of crescent moon earrings there before her trip to the Persian Gulf to meet the Sultan of Oman in 1986.

She wore crescent moon earrings (pictured above) which everyone thought were an extravagant diamond gift from the Sultan, but they in fact cost her just £23.

I kind of love the fact she was happy to mix zirconia with priceless diamond heirlooms from the Queen's collection, and that people didn't even realise. Something tells me Diana would've quite liked that joke.

Penny Goldstone
Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.

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