The Scorpio Cape: From Elizabeth Taylor's 1969 Monte Carlo Debut to the Kardashian-Jenner Revival

Few single garments can claim a résumé quite like the Scorpio Cape. The black velvet hooded cape, embroidered with glittering scorpions and lined in ivory silk, was designed by the Roman house Tiziani for Elizabeth Taylor, who wore it to Princess Grace of Monaco's 40th birthday celebrations in 1969. More than five decades later, it has resurfaced on two of the most-watched women in fashion: Kris Jenner on the red carpet at the Rome Film Festival, and Kim Kardashian on screen in season two of Ryan Murphy's legal drama All's Fair. Here is the complete story of the cape, its design, its auction history, and its modern revivals — and, crucially, who wore the original versus a replica.

The Scorpio Cape's Grand Debut: Elizabeth Taylor in Monaco

The cape's first public appearance came on November 15, 1969, at Princess Grace's famous Scorpio Ball, held in Monte Carlo at the Hôtel Hermitage in honor of Kelly's own star sign. The theme was astrological, and the guest list matched it: Taylor, a Pisces, attended alongside her husband Richard Burton, who was himself a Scorpio — a detail that gave the evening's scorpion motif a personal charge for the famous couple.

As Vogue recounts, the occasion was Princess Grace's 40th birthday celebration, and the ball became one of the most storied parties of the era. For Taylor, it was a stage worthy of her theatrical instincts: a sweeping velvet hooded silhouette, its ivory silk lining framing her face, with scorpions embroidered across the chest. Page Six adds that she accessorized the look with the famous Taylor-Burton Diamond necklace, whose drop measures 69.42 carats — a pairing that cemented the ensemble as pure Hollywood royalty, even on a Mediterranean dance floor.

Design Details and Potential Attribution

The cape's core design is consistent across reports: black velvet, a hood, two embellished scorpions on the chest — with a hidden scorpion on the back of the hood as well, per Page Six's description of the piece Kardashian wears — and a bright ivory silk interior. The house responsible was Tiziani Roma, the Roman fashion label beloved by mid-century celebrities.

One tantalizing question hovers over the garment's authorship. According to the listing on the Christie's auction website, "At this time, Karl Lagerfeld was Tiziani's freelance designer, and this cape may well be one of his designs." That phrasing — "may well be" — is the auction house's own hedge, and it should be read as exactly that: a possibility raised in the sale catalog, not a confirmed attribution. No document in the cape's public history definitively settles whether the young Lagerfeld sketched it.

From Icon to Auction Block: The Cape's Journey

After Taylor's death, her extraordinary wardrobe went to Christie's in 2011 as part of a massive Elizabeth Taylor Collection sale. The "Scorpio Evening Cape," as the auction described it, sold for $60,000 plus the buyer's premium — a cool $74,500 all-in, as Page Six reported from the auction record.

What happened next is where the trail goes quiet. It is unclear whether Kim Kardashian was the winning bidder in 2011, whether she purchased the cape privately afterward, or whether she simply re-created the iconic look for television. The evidence does not settle the question, and the cape's current owner remains publicly unknown. What is certain is that the garment's aura only grew in the decade after it crossed the block.

The Scorpio Cape: A Chronology of an Icon

Reconciling the reported appearances into a single sequence clarifies the most common point of confusion: only Taylor wore the original, while every 21st-century sighting is a homage or replica. The timeline below sequences the cape's public history, distinguishing the garment's status at each moment.

The sequence resolves the ambiguity neatly: the original left Taylor's estate via Christie's in 2011, and every appearance since — Jenner's on the red carpet, Kardashian's and Paulson's on screen — is a recreation rather than the 1969 garment itself.

Modern Revivals: Kris Jenner and the Red Carpet

The cape's 21st-century comeback began, fittingly, in Rome — the city of its birth. At the Rome Film Festival, where Kardashian was celebrating the season two premiere of All's Fair, Jenner arrived in a sweeping black velvet hooded cape with the ivory silk lining framing her face and glittering scorpions embroidered across the chest, worn with long white gloves and a floor-length white gown beneath.

As Vogue notes, Kardashian and Jenner share an affinity for archival fashion and high-octane glamour, with a penchant for mother-daughter twinning — and this outing carried a particularly storied piece of Hollywood history, linking Taylor, Grace Kelly, and the astrological sign of the moment. Jenner's version was explicitly a homage to the Tiziani Roma creation Taylor wore in 1969, a red-carpet gesture that treated a half-century-old garment as living design language.

Kim Kardashian and Sarah Paulson: The Scorpio Cape on Screen

Days before the Rome premiere, the cape had already made its television return. In Hulu's sneak peek at season two of All's Fair, Kardashian — playing Allura Grant — wears a black velvet hooded cape with two embellished scorpions on the chest and the hidden back of the hood, its interior lined with bright ivory silk. Page Six describes the velvet piece as designed by Tiziani Roma, and Kardashian as re-creating Taylor's iconic outfit for the show, channeling Hollywood royalty in the role.

One detail suggests the wardrobe department went beyond a single copy: at one point in the trailer, Sarah Paulson's character Carrington Lane also dons the piece of history, implying multiples were made for filming. Kardashian appears to have added a version of the sparkling Taylor-Burton Diamond necklace for the scene as well, completing the homage. Whether any of these screen garments is the 2011 auction lot itself — or whether Kardashian owns the original privately — remains unestablished.

The Enduring Legacy of the Scorpio Cape

The decision this history supports is clear: the Scorpio Cape endures as a powerful symbol of dramatic fashion and celebrity influence, its story stretching from Elizabeth Taylor's original 1969 statement to its modern interpretations by the Kardashian-Jenner family. What began as a bespoke Tiziani Roma piece for an astrologically themed ball in Monte Carlo has become a recurring reference point for stars seeking to summon old Hollywood grandeur.

The measurable indicator to watch is continued high-profile appearances of the cape or its replicas by celebrities, or new details emerging from fashion archives and auction records — above all, any confirmation of who holds the original today, and whether the Karl Lagerfeld attribution hinted at in the Christie's listing can ever be verified. Until then, the cape's provenance between 2011 and now remains its most alluring unsolved chapter.

Sources

• From Elizabeth Taylor to Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner: The Starry History of the Scorpio Cape — Vogue
• Kim Kardashian re-creates iconic Elizabeth Taylor outfit for ‘All’s Fair’ Season 2 — Page Six