Hundreds of years ago, the evolution of the tiara began as a conical hat that was worn by the pope and emperors to symbolize their power. By Queen Elizabeth's time, it had evolved into the modern-day semi-circle hair piece that is covered with an assortment of gems. This delicate form was worn to supplement natural beauty as much as it was used to symbolized royalty, power, or wealth.



Today, women of all ages and backgrounds are entitled to wear tiaras. Youngsters sport them on Halloween or while they play dress-up with their friends, teenagers buy them for special occasions like proms and homecoming, brides wear them with their wedding gowns and pageant winners are often presented with a tiara of their own as a trophy of success.

In spite of its fame and its beauty, a tiara can be a very affordable accessory. Shoppers could probably find a couple pricey ones on the market that are made of real gold, silver and precious jewels, rhinestones are the material of choice more often than not.

Made to imitate the gleam and sparkle of diamonds, Rhinestones are an affordable and plentiful alternative to a girl's best friend. Rhinestones used to refer to rock crystals that were gather from the Rhine River, but today they are manufactured from crystal, glass and acrylic material. Georg Friedrich Strass was the first jeweler to make them by coating the lower side of glass with metal powder in 1775. Since that time, rhinestones have become even more popular accents on clothing, hair pieces and tiaras.

If you want to buy your own tiara, many wedding stores supply a large selection of tiaras along with gowns so that brides can try them on and buy them with their dresses. Online stores also carry a large assortment of products and they usually offer better prices. The only disadvantage to buying from an online store is that customers can't try them on before the tiara arrives.

Tiaras can be as short as half an inch, or as tall as half a foot. A tiara doesn't have to weigh five pounds to make a difference in your appearance though. In fact, customers usually prefer the smaller styles. In addition to being more affordable, small tiaras are more versatile. They can be worn with many different hair-do's and some can even double as a headband and a crown. Smaller tiaras are also much easier to carry and store than a five-inch tall headpiece that could double as a chimney for barbequing.