After famously proposing with a shoe in the first film, in Sex and the City 2, Mr Big finally puts a ring on Carrie Bradshaw’s finger. The ring in question: a 5-carat black diamond by Itay Malkin. Big explains his choice with the words, “because you’re not like anyone else,” and Carrie, characteristically deadpan, breathes a sigh of relief: “I thought you were going to say it’s the colour of my soul.”
Sarah Jessica Parker’s character has set no small number of trends, so we couldn’t help but wonder… do we also have her to thank for what is fast becoming a craze for coloured engagement rings?
The stars were quick to fall in line. Gwyneth Paltrow wears an enormous 12-carat blue sapphire engagement ring from her second husband Brad Falchuk, while her ex Chris Martin is rumoured to have proposed to Dakota Johnson with an emerald. Orlando Bloom asked Katy Perry to marry him with a fittingly flower-shaped ring: a bright pink ruby surrounded by petal-shaped white diamonds. And the colour brown might not scream romance, but it sealed the deal for both Scarlett Johansson and Kristen Bell, who wear light brown and “cognac” diamonds, respectively. In 2020 Charlie McDowell worked with Irene Neuwirth (a jewellery designer who has played a pivotal role in the rise of coloured stones) to design a light pink diamond engagement ring for his now wife Lily Collins.
More recently—and despite allegedly having inspired Taylor Swift’s “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”—Matty Healy proposed to his now fiancée Gabbriette with a 5-carat black diamond, and just this week Tallulah Willis shared a snap of her antique “honey champagne” diamond.
Celebrities are clearly into alternative engagement rings, but increasingly real world brides are no longer wedded to the idea of a classic diamond solitaire. “I think the desire and market for coloured stone engagement rings has grown as knowledge and information about coloured stones—besides the obvious big players like ruby, blue sapphire and emerald—has entered the mainstream,” London-based jeweller Bear Brooksbank tells me. “We have seen a huge increase in appetite both with our bespoke and ready to wear coloured stone rings, and it is no coincidence that when we launched our bridal collection last year it was the teal sapphire ring that sold first.”
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Along with teal, Bear tells me she’s seen a particular rise in interest in orange sapphires, spinels and green tourmalines—but there’s still an appetite for the more traditional coloured stones, like emeralds, for instance. Just ask Lisbon-based fashion influencer Vicky Montanari, who has amassed a million Instagram followers thanks to her playful video content showcasing her unique style (a veritable smorgasbord of clashing prints, surprising colour combinations and mismatched accessories). It can’t be an easy task picking a ring for someone known for their taste, but—in Vicky’s own words—her fiancé “couldn’t have chosen any better”. “[If I’d ever] imagined my engagement ring, it would for sure include emeralds, my favourite stone, in the most beautiful green colour,” she tells me.
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The designer Kitty Fuller, founder of jewellery brand Kitty Joyas, attributes the growing interest in coloured gemstones to brides’ desire for rings that reflect their individuality. “I think people are warming up to the idea of wearing engagement and fine jewellery that has no rules, and instead leans into the unique quirks of one’s personality,” she says. Trends will come and go but the hope is that you’ll wear your engagement ring every day for the rest of your life, so it’s all the more important to pick one that feels like you.
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ICYMI, butter yellow is the colour of the season, and newlyweds Phoebe Lettice Thompson, a stylist, and her wife Noelle Nikkah, were ahead of the curve. Noelle proposed with a yellow diamond that previously belonged to her mother. “The yellow stone really reflects my mom’s personality,” Noelle tells me, going on to describe her as someone who brings “brightness into any room”. “It feels like a perfect fit seeing Phoebe wear the ring every day—she radiates the same kind of warmth and light”.
When it came to designing her own engagement ring—which she did unknowingly—Kitty naturally gravitated towards pink sapphires, finding that “they embodied that extra playful and romantic charm that so strongly resonated with me”.
In 2025, amidst the lingering economic impacts of Brexit, a pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, budget could well be a driving factor in the trend—especially while the trend for chunky rings reigns supreme. “[The trend] requires a large stone to really max the look,” Bear points out, “so a large diamond may not be possible, but a large coloured stone may well be. Most significantly, gone are the days of people feeling shy that their friends didn’t know the name of the stone in their engagement ring.” Now, she says, “It’s a badge of honour to have something that not everyone has heard of, let alone seen.”
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
