TikTok trends are coming to an engagement ring near you.
Quiet luxury and the mob wife aesthetic, two of the biggest fashion trends on social media, are influencing the market now, too.
While the trends are on either side of the style spectrum — with quiet luxury exuding a subtle, understated opulence and the mob wife aesthetic centering on bold, borderline-gaudy designs — brides are using both concepts for engagement-ring inspiration.
“It’s similar to how these trends are making an impact on what makeup people wear or what clothing people wear,” said Olivia Landau, founder of New York-based jeweler The Clear Cut. “That’s a little bit more extreme and people can experiment and wear their makeup a certain way or wear their fur coats this season, but for engagement rings it’s more of a subtle nod to the trend because brides want something that’s going to be timeless and classic through at least the next five to 10 years without changing their setting and definitely a diamond they’re going to love.”
The Clear Cut and other specialty jewelers are seeing brides incorporate their own interpretations on both aesthetics into their engagement rings. The quiet luxury trend is still going strong — it was the a — and jewelers said an array of diamond cuts fall in line with the aesthetic.
“We are seeing [quiet luxury] in terms of minimalistic and simplistic designs being very much requested,” said Nicole Wegman, the founder and chief executive officer of . “It’s really all about placing the emphasis on the diamond and less on the setting, which is very quiet luxury — having a really nice, big white diamond and a really simple setting. It appears as it’s not particularly over the top or you are trying to be overt, but ultimately you are because your diamond is big.”
Jewelers said quiet luxury’s popularity has translated into brides gravitating toward solitaire engagement rings, with little to no ornamentation in the forms of side stones or halo details.
Engagement ring styles from Ring Concierge.
Courtesy of Ring Concierge
Brides looking for the quiet luxury vibe are gravitating toward elongated diamond shapes, like ovals, emeralds and marquises. Jewelers highlighted old mined and European cuts as other popular styles that give an “old money” vibe, and said heirloom diamonds are another go-to option.
“It’s taking the diamond itself, but then having your own kind of personalization and interpretation of it that suits your story,” said Kristina Buckley Kayel, managing director and chief marketing officer at the Natural Diamond Council, on quiet luxury. “The U.S. market unlike any other market — Europe or even Asia — we’re the market that likes the bigger diamond, which is why quiet luxury had such a moment because it’s actually about the quality. It’s not about the size. What I do find is that people automatically feel, especially with a natural diamond, the larger the size, the more expensive it gets and people feel it’s more rare and so on.”
The toi et moi style, which often pairs an heirloom stone with a newer diamond, has been declining in popularity, according to Brilliant Earth cofounder Beth Gerstein, who said the buzzy style is on the “down trend.”
While it’s newer — surfacing early this year on social media — the mob wife aesthetic is making a substantial impact on engagement ring preferences already, posing a stark contrast to quiet luxury. The trend lends itself to chunky gold bands, bezel styles, large diamonds and side stones.
“The way we’re seeing it is more of a modern interpretation of what you would think of a mob wife,” Landau said. “We’ve seen recently a big trend for larger three stone rings, so that’s something that can kind of nod to the mob wife aesthetic — like radiant cuts with larger trapezoids or emerald cuts with big traps or pear shapes with tapered baguettes — so things that might be traditionally a little bit more of a mature engagement ring, but now younger brides are opting for that larger look for a three-stone aesthetic.”
Engagement ring styles from Ring Concierge.
Courtesy of Ring Concierge
Some jewelers are seeing the mob wife aesthetic also influence wedding band preferences, which some companies say are now being purchased at the same time as engagement rings. Jewelers explained the mob wife aesthetic has increased popularity in wider eternity wedding bands, specifically with emerald cut diamonds.
While most trends on social media are fleeting, quiet luxury and the mob wife aesthetic are impacting engagement rings because they are open to personal interpretation, jewelers said, encouraging experimentation while giving brides visual examples to work from.
“People want to have a ring that’s unique to them, but they don’t want to stray too far,” said Gerstein. “They’re thinking of themselves in 10 years, like am I still going to like this style? Social [media] nudges you forward in a way, but at the end of the day, the bride is still making sure that it’s going to fit their own personal preference, but it’s hard not to be influenced by what you see out in the wild. Whether it’s something you’re hopefully going to have for many years, decades or potentially a lifetime.”
Both social media-inspired styles may cycle out by next year, however, trends that promote individuality and timelessness typically hold their longevity.
“It just shows that there’s so much fun to be had,” said Buckley Kayel. “If you’re seeing both those trends, it’s just saying that there really is something for everyone and that there are no rules. You can personalize on either end and the options in between are really vast.”