We needed a literal king to abdicate the throne to bring the zip necklace into fashion. Because this story starts with Wallis Simpson. An American divorcée who would later become the Duchess of Windsor, and the woman for whom King Edward VIII gave up the British throne in 1936. Wallis never actually owned a Zip necklace. But the idea was hers. The zipper itself was invented in the late 19th century and, by the 1930s, was still seen as purely utilitarian. Functional. Industrial. Not luxury. When