In the early 2000s and 2010s, the engagement ring slipped into aesthetic autopilot, with bright-white round brilliants, sugary micro-pavé bands, halo settings, and princess cuts dominating the landscape. In 2025, we have a new version of diamond-ring ubiquity: the so-called “90210 ring,” a massive oval solitaire that was replicated endlessly on TikTok until it became its own algorithm. The result is a bridal monoculture where everything feels faintly interchangeable. At the other extreme are celebrity mega-rings that are enormous yet rarely distinctive. This trend points down to 2026 being the year brides finally push back.
Classic silhouettes still prevail. The six-prong Tiffany & Co. setting introduced in 1886 continues to define the textbook image of a solitaire, and the emerald-cut diamond—worn by everyone from Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly to Beyoncé and Amal Clooney—remains iconic. Four-prong settings have emerged as the more modern option, offering a minimalist look with less visible metal and therefore more attention on the stone. But how do you escape the churn of the traditional solitaire and choose something more personal?
A new mood is forming. It is warmer and more tactile, shaped by a desire for rings that feel designed rather than AI-generated. “People are trying to align with designers whose work actually resonates with them,” says New York-based jeweler Sarah Dyne, who sees clients gravitating toward labor-intensive, crafted settings rather than polished uniformity. Frank Everett, senior vice president of jewelry at Sotheby’s, notes the same shift. “People's preference for rings is turning towards individuality, particularly favoring antique cuts for a long time.”
While the 2000s celebrated pristine brilliance, the next wave embraces personality. Remember when Carrie Bradshaw recoiled at a pear-shaped diamond on a yellow gold band? Today, that exact softened silhouette and warm tone are not only acceptable but also aspirational. The eclectic, personal aesthetic dominating fashion and interiors has filtered into bridal jewelry. Antique textiles, artisan-made ceramics, Bode-style patchwork jackets, and the broader return to craft have shaped a generation that values irregularity over flawlessness.
Zendaya’s east-west engagement ring is rumored to be the work of Jessica McCormack.
Antique stones and vintage cuts
The rise of antique diamonds—Old Mines, Old Europeans, and elongated antique cushions—shows no sign of slowing down. These stones offer softness, warmth, and a candlelit sparkle that comes from irregularity and hand-cut proportions. Their natural asymmetry and scarcity are exactly what modern clients are searching for.
Jessica McCormack has been central to this shift. Her silver-topped gold mountings and signature old-cut diamonds have reintroduced 19th-century styles to a new audience, including Zendaya and Dakota Johnson. Her work proves antique cuts can look modern rather than nostalgic, giving designers a new blueprint for contemporary heirlooms.
“I am getting loads of requests for antique-cut stones. Stones with interesting or unique cuts, tones and characteristics, and captivating inclusions, all of which indicate the stone is natural,” says Los Angeles-based designer Maggi Simpkins, who has seen a surge in requests for Old Mines and elongated cushions. Prounis founder Jean Prounis says the same: “Clients are increasingly drawn to the history, individuality, and hand-cut charm of these storied stones." And because these antique cuts only exist in natural diamonds, they feel even more rare and special.”
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Everett sees this surge as a direct rejection of homogeneity and the overly perfect on social media. Culture has caught on in real time. Taylor Swift’s antique-cushion engagement ring introduced an entire generation to Old Mine stones and accelerated the mainstream return of these historical cuts.
Chunky gold and bezel settings
If the 2010s were about delicate, skinny, supporting-act bands, this new decade is embracing weight and presence. Thick gold bands, sculpted profiles, and strong bezels are replacing fragile pavé stacks. These designs feel substantial and intentionally designed, rather than mass-produced.
“Chunkier, thicker wedding bands are coming up often; clients are gravitating toward a more substantial gold profile paired with a single center stone,” says Prounis. She sees clients leaning towards gold-heavy rings with bezel settings, which are gaining traction over traditional prongs. Los Angeles-based designer Jenna Katz, known for her hand-fabricated 18k and 22k bands, gets similar inquiries from clients. “Bridal clients want something chunky and not too delicate,” she says.
The look has an almost ’70s energy: bold, sculptural, warm-toned gold that feels intentional and slightly retro, without slipping into costume.
Sculptural bands and modernist forms
The band itself is becoming a design statement. Instead of a simple shank-plus-stone formula, designers are exploring softened signets, undulating curves, melted textures, and forms that reference early modernist jewelry.
“The trend right now is softer, smoother rather than sharp or geometric,” says Simpkins, whose bespoke work increasingly features signet-inspired silhouettes with “melty, imperfect texture.” Rooted in hand-engraved symbolism, Dyne shows a growing interest in tactile surfaces: brushed gold signaling a move away from high-polish gold.
These sculptural and often sinuous shapes trace back to the modernist curves of early 20th-century jewelers and artists such as Suzanne Belperron and Calder and the soft sculptural metalwork of the Art Moderne era. The lineage runs straight through to designers like Jessica McCormack, whom Everett calls “one of jewelry’s biggest success stories of all time.” Her Georgian-meets-modern silhouettes, silver-topped gold mountings, and signature wave bands are contemporary extensions of that 1930s vocabulary: rounded, hand-worked, tactile, and character-driven.
The parallels to fashion and interiors are obvious. The rise of vintage textiles, coastal-elite interiors filled with batik prints and irregular pottery, and Lisa Eisner for The Row’s organic forms all reflect the same instinct. Sculptural metal feels like the jewelry equivalent of the perfect hand-thrown vase.
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Shape shifts: ovals, marquise, and elongated everything
Rounds remain ubiquitous, but elongated shapes will define 2026: ovals, elongated antique cushions, marquise cuts, and east-west settings.
Ovals, boosted by TikTok and Hailey Bieber, now symbolize the “bigger is better” mood. They offer maximum finger coverage. The “90210” trend on TikTok has propelled the popularity of the giant oval solitaire, reposted so relentlessly that it has become shorthand for supersized diamonds. “Ovals are back in a big way,” says Everett, noting that their proportions can make a two-carat stone look closer to three.
Elongated cushions are equally defining, helped along by Swift’s antique-cushion ring. They feel historical rather than glossy and offer softer glamour than an oval. The elongated trend extends further. Katz notices shape requests becoming increasingly specific, with a strong demand for antique pears with soft rounded tips.
Sara Beltran of the New York-based brand Dezso, whose pieces blend oceanic influences and artisanal techniques, never uses prong settings. Instead, she embraces long stones set horizontally, describing them as “modern and sexy.” East-west settings in marquise and emerald cuts are also resurging, offering a subtle but confident alternative to the usual vertical orientation. Everett notes the same revival. “There was a time when nobody wanted a marquise,” he says, “and now they are popular again, especially in east-west settings, the way Maggi Simpkins does them.”
Colour, warmth and softened tones
Colour is not replacing white diamonds, but the palette is warming. Designers are seeing greater interest in champagne diamonds, light yellows, honey tones, and smoky browns.
“People are much more open to warm diamonds now,” says Katz. “The palette includes champagnes, yellows, and even brown tones. They are beautiful and move away from that overly bright, white look.” The key, according to Dyne, is “choosing the right warmth and depth for the wearer. You can get muddy colours and beautiful colours.” She also notes that many clients actively want stones with warmer tones, because they feel it pulls the look away from lab-growns.
Beltran’s citrine and aquamarine pieces—though not strictly engagement rings—reflect the broader shift toward subtler, more earthy colour choices. Rather than a rainbow, the palette is tonal, sunlit, and warm.
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This article first appeared on Vogue.co.uk
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