Four Trends from a Royal Engagement Ring
There’s nothing like a royal engagement to launch a jewelry trend. Remember the sapphire halo? With the announcement that Prince Harry is engaged to American actress Meghan Markle, the jewelry world was waiting for the first glimpse of the ring. Now that we have it, it’s clear that there is some potential for engagement ring trends in the making. First, the brilliant details. The ring is a custom design by Cleave and Company, with a 2.50-3.00 carat cushion cut diamond with two round diamonds on the side set in yellow gold. Let’s have a look, shall we?
Here are the top four trends that I’m anticipating from this royal ring.
1. The Return of the Three Stone
Is this the death knell of the halo? Contrast Meghan’s ring with Kate’s: not only is the gem a diamond instead of a blue sapphire, it has no halo. We’ve been feeling a shift away from halos coming for some time now: maybe it’s finally here. Will the the three stone, the style that the halo replaced, return again to replace it? If so, meghan’s ring offers a clue how the new three0stone styles may differ from the old. Her ring has a fancy cut, the currently hot cushion shape in the middle with rounds on the side. In the past, the center was usually round and the side stones usually fancy. Flipping the two is a twist on the classic that makes it feel a bit fresher. And using rounds on the side are a perfect way to incorporate family gems from stud earrings. The rounds in Meghan’s ring come from Princess Diana.
2. All Hail the Cushion
If you had any doubt, the cushion reigns as the fancy shape of the moment. A recent survey by The Knot, only 52% of brides have a round brilliant in their ring. Oval and cushion cuts are both on the rise. This may provide an extra boost to would-be brides considering a cushion.
3. Custom is Personal
Even with the crown jewels at his disposal, Prince Harry chose to comission a custom ring. But not because he wanted an unusual design, because he wanted to add personal meaning to the ring, incorporating gems from his mother and a center stone with personal significance to the couple. If you are a jeweler promoting custom engagement rings, make sure you promote the personal details that make a bespoke ring meaningful, not just unique design.
4. Origin Matters
With the royal couple talking about how the center diamond is from Botswana, diamond origin has hit the big time. I think this is the single most important trend coming from this ring. Now, even couples who are more interested in celebrity than sustainability have a reason to ask where the diamond in that ring comes from. What’s nice here is that the origin of the diamond has personal meaning: the couple is interested in wildlife conservation and they vacationed together in Botswana. Framing the discussion of origin as part of the personal story makes it less political gives it a broad appeal. Expect it to become part of the engagement conversation from now on.
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Loved the content, keep posting!
Very informative post. This trend is very important to guide the future purchases.
Informative Post!! I will try to follow these ideas when buying my engagement ring.
Nice tips. It is very informative post. I know very important things over here. I would definitely try to follow your tips to buy four trends from a royal engagement ring. Thanks for sharing this informative post.
Sure. Agreed ! Custom is personal and personal is customised.
An interesting fact I learned recently is that when engagement rings first became a thing, people would set Sapphires into the ring because they believed that the stone would fade with deceit or infidelity on the part of the wife. Apparently they were popular with crusaders when they were heading off to the holy lands so that they’d know if their wives had been faithful on their return.
Someone on reddit suggested to me that this may have been a conspiracy on the part of the wives as a clever way of getting a handy new jewellery set whenever their husbands left for any length of time…I lol’d 🙂
Reddit link’s here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Birthstone/comments/87263w/a_good_page_about_the_various_april_birthstones/
Nice post..