The Stylish Royalty

The Jewels of the Most Stylish Queen of Yesteryear Farah Pahlavi

Farah Pahlavi was‎ born Farah Diba in Tabriz the Iranian capital. She was the only child of Captain Sohrab Diba and Farideh Ghotbi.

 

She married Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza on 20 December 1959, aged 21. Her marriage received international media attention. 

Her Wedding gown was made by Yves Saint Laurent, then a designer at the house of Dior. The dress included a scoop neck, with a modest coat to go over top. The whole affair was embellished with Persian motifs illustrated in sequins, imitation pearls, and silver line. The train had a distinctive fur-lined hem; unseen, blue was sewn in to some of the hems as a sort of a good luck charm for the birth of a boy. 

Farah wore the Noor-ol-Ain Tiara containing one of the world's largest pink diamonds to go with the dress.

The diamond set in platinum, and surrounded by pink, clear and yellow diamonds, is a brilliant cut, almost tear shaped, approximately 60 carats; the other diamonds range from 14 to 19 carats each.  

In the year 1967 she was crowned the first Shahbanu, or Empress, of modern Iran in a glamorous Coronation Ceremony.

The coronation set of Empress Farah Pahlavi 

The Empress Farah Pahlavi wore an extravagant decorated crown created by Van Cleef & Arpels.

The crown was adorned with 1541 stones in total, including 1469 diamonds, 36 emeralds, 34 rubies, 2 spinels, 105 pearls among other stones, but most importantly, a spectacular 150-carat emerald set at the center. It weighed 4.3 pounds.

It all started in 1966, when Pierre Arpels learned that out of the fifty proposals for the design of the imperial crown submitted by the greatest jewelers of the time, the Iranian government had chosen a Van Cleef & Arpels' drawing. The crown would be adorned with jewels from the National Treasury located in the Central Bank of Iran, according to Iranian tradition.
 

Van Cleef and Arpels also prepared a large gold and platinum necklace for the Queen to wear on the day. It features a large carved emerald as the central pendant, plus additional emeralds, white and yellow diamonds, and pearls. Farah also wore a pair of coordinating earrings by Van Cleef and Arpels.

 

 

Farah Pahlavi’s favorite Tiara

It was designed by Harry Winston, the jeweler from New York, for the occasion of the marriage of Empress Farah and Reza Shah Pahlevi in 1958. It was Farah’s favorite tiara; she wore it often on formal occasions, such as her visit to the United States and Canada in 1965.

Darya -e- Noor (Sea of Light) Diamond. One of the few largest diamonds in the world;
it weighs 186 carats.


 

Loose Indian Diamonds

The Taj -e- Mah Diamond shown here on the lower left. It weighs 115 carats.

The other three loose diamonds shown here are 72.5 carats, 54.5 carats, 47.5 carats, and 54.35 carats. The cushion-shaped one on the top left was possibly cut from an even larger diamond.

Nowadays, Farah Pahlavi lives in exile in Paris and often travels to the U.S. and the U.K, and is occasionally seen at mega royal events where she is always impeccably dressed.