June may mark the onslaught of the wedding season, but this year, according to www.nationaljewelernetwork.com, it seems that winter has been the time to get engaged - given the string of pop stars, top models and big-screen ingénues sporting engagement rings in recent months.
According to the Diamond Information Center (DIC), the most popular engagement ring is a round, 0.5- to 1.0-carat solitaire on a plain, white gold metal band, although rings featuring pavé diamond bands are fast on the rise. But that's for the average bride - and celebrities are, of course, a different story.
Pop star Katy Perry, engaged to British comedian Russell Brand, is among the soon-to-be brides sporting a round diamond, although - far from average - her Cartier stunner features an estimated 3-carat stone. While the large center stone is par for the course for the celebrity set, what makes Perry's ring more unusual is that it sits upon a yellow gold band, creating a vintage look that many brides seem to be going for lately and one that wedding trend forecaster The Knot heralds as "retro glamour."
Neil Lane clients Emily Blunt - perhaps best known for her breakout role in The Devil Wears Prada - and Dutch supermodel Lara Stone have both been sporting vintage-style pieces featuring large center stones and a flurry of details, from small accent stones to milgrained edges.
Blunt's ring has a 1920s feel to it, featuring handmade platinum and tiny diamonds surrounding the round center stone, Lane tells National Jeweler. Stone's ring, meanwhile, features a 4-carat round diamond, also in platinum, with small stones on the shank. For Lane, who is known for creating jewels with a vintage vibe that still retain a modern feel, the design is in the details.
"They all like detail," Lane says of his star-studded client list. "It's not all visual on top, it's seeing stones when they tip the ring over. Girls are loving the detail, they're loving the vintage vibe."
Other engagements making news in the last few weeks include that of Jake Pavelka, star of ABC's The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love. In the show's finale, he proposed to Vienna Girardi with a Neil Lane-designed ring featuring a 2.02-carat, princess-cut diamond set in platinum and accented with 0.72 carats of small stones.
While many of the rings newly engaged celebrities are sporting lately featured uber-large center stones - the DIC estimates Carrie Underwood's Jonathan Ardnt-designed ring at 5-plus carats, Hilary Duff's radiant-cut sparkler is estimated at a whopping 14 carats (and $1 million price tag), Nicole Ritchie's Neil Lane stunner is over 4 carats and Kristen Bell's emerald-cut brown diamond by Lane is 3 carats - Lane says that in his own work, his goal is to create rings that are beautiful and wearable. He doesn't want the first thing a person says to be " 'Wow, what a big ring,' but instead, 'Wow, what a beautiful ring.'"
And while the 3- to 4-carat stone weight many celebrities request is far larger than the 0.5- to 1.0-carat average in the United States, Lane emphasizes that these are the clients' personal rings. While they might seem over-the-top, especially these days, the jewelry befits the world of glamour that these stars live in - a world that the public eagerly tunes into, Lane says.
"There is something for not wanting to be so extravagant, but they are in the world of glamour, and that's what the world loves about them," Lane says. "It's about fashion and style and glamour, and that's what Hollywood does best."
