The London-based jeweler Leviev expects that “pins and hairpieces will make a great comeback” and is designing new hair jewels, according to a spokesperson. De Beers, Chopard, Bulgari, Garrard, and Moussaieff all report receiving requests for diamond headpieces and are responding by producing new designs and adapting older pieces.

“We’re noticing that we are taking more commissions for individual tiaras,” says a Garrard spokesperson. “Many are from international royalty, and there has also been an increase in sales to clients looking to buy pieces that will become future heirlooms.”  

When it comes to the older jewels, tiaras that transform—with a few clicks and adjustments—into necklaces are the most popular, according to experts at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Such flexibility can result in prices that are 40 percent higher than conventional pieces, Baker says.

Contemporary interpretations are gaining popularity as well. “The increasing interest in jewelry in general over the last few years has meant people are looking for new parts of the body to adorn with jewels,” says Nathalie Kabiri, founder of Kabiri, an edgy London jewelry gallery that sells to many New Yorkers via its website. “Hair jewels used to be [considered] girly, but now they’re cool and directional and important pieces of jewelry in their own right.”  

Kabiri cites Andy Farrow’s “beautifully made pieces” and Malababa’s “relatively cheap” leather headbands (currently sold out) as some of her bestselling items. Cherry Chau offers bold pieces that mix carved steel with crystals.

Jeweler Jessica McCormack, who has participated twice in London Rocks, Sotheby’s annual contemporary jewelry sales event, has noticed a jump in requests from customers who want to wear her jewelry in their hair. And a new traveling De Beers collection of one-off pieces, the Valley of Diamonds, includes a Cobra pendant-cum-brooch,  with pins that help secure it in a coiffure. The most expensive piece in the series, the Cobra will retail for about $240,000 after touring Japan, Britain, and the U.S.

“Tiaras are like a pair of high heels that make you stand tall and upright so you don’t slouch,” says Andrew Prince, a jeweler largely credited with making the finest handmade tiara copies in Britain, with prices starting at several hundred pounds. “They are probably the most useless and yet the most wonderful piece of jewelry a woman can own.”