Art Deco Engagement Rings

Wearing vintage fashions and jewelry has never been more popular than it is now. Many women feel that wearing vintage jewelry is like connecting with bygone eras filled with glamor and romance, where women wore beautiful handcrafted pieces bought for them by their latest beau as a declaration of their love.

In the US, Art Deco is still one of the most popular styles in vintage jewelry for those who have a passion for past fashions, and in particular, this engagement ring style has a timeless appeal. The reason for this may be that in comparison to a more classic design such as a solitaire engagement ring, an Art Deco engagement ring is a unique statement piece that could be considered unconventional, hence its appeal to those women who like to stand out from the crowd.

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When Did the Art Deco Style of Design Emerge?

The Art Deco design period began in France during the 1920s and 1930s (often referred to as “The Roaring Twenties”), directly following on from the decorative, flowing, and floral style of Art Nouveau. The leading fashionistas of this time had become bored of the twisted lines and faded hues of Art Nouveau and replaced these with the directly contrasting geometric lines and bold colors that characterize Art Deco designs.

This was a revolutionary age of great decadence, luxury, extravagance, and high society renowned for glitz and glamor. Women began to cut their hair short, went out to work, and partied hard like their male counterparts. Flapper girls, the Charleston, the Great Gatsby, and glamorous Hollywood movie stars were all part of this fabulous period. The values of traditional femininity went out of style, and the radical designs of jewelry reflected the frivolity and energy of this period.

Art Deco was the first internationally recognized style revolution that influenced all lifestyle areas, from fashion and jewelry to interior design and architecture. It is an iconic style that moved away from traditional flowing patterns to modern, geometric, and abstract shapes. Art Deco is thought by many to have been influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism and the bright colors of the Ballets Russes and Parisian Fauvism.

 

What Is the Art Deco Style?

This jewelry style is sometimes said to be similar to that of the Edwardian period due to its use of platinum and diamond focal points. However, the Edwardians preferred a more intricate design style, and Art Deco jewelry is far removed from this, focusing on modern, clean lines and geometric shapes. Many believe that the fascination at the time with expeditions to Egypt, such as Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, directly influenced Art Deco jewelry designs. Clear similarities can be seen in the use of clean-cut angles and colored gemstones such as emeralds.

Art Deco jewelry is renowned for being clean, elegant, and sharp in design. Art Deco pieces are characterized by chic, streamlined cuts, perfect forms, circles, corners, angles, straight lines, and precise geometric shapes combined with bold splashes of color. Square, rectangular, circular, and triangular shapes are intricately woven to create ornate, bold patterns. This style is far from understated in appearance, utilizing grand yet elegant geometry, long curved lines, motifs, and bold colors.

Round and oval gemstones traditionally used in jewelry were replaced with squares, rectangles, triangles, trapezes, and diamond shoulders, as well as new types of cut such as baguette diamonds, which emerged in the late 1920s. The metal was not visible due to a new method of fixing stones developed during this era. Typical settings for Art Deco engagement rings and other pieces of jewelry were prong, cluster, or box. Platinum and 10k or 18k white gold were the most popular metals during this era, with white gold being introduced around 1915 to combat the rising price of platinum and meet the demand for light-colored metals. Yellow gold was very much out of style in this era.

 

What Are Art Deco Jewelry and Engagement Rings?

During The Roaring Twenties, every flapper girl dreamed of possessing a piece of Art Deco jewelry. Art Deco engagement rings and wedding bands were especially coveted, thanks to their sparkling diamonds or bright gemstones.

Engagement rings designed during this period were considered daring, combining geometric patterns with angular lines. A typical Art Deco engagement ring style would be a square cut center gemstone surrounded by triangular stones or rectangular baguettes, all set into a bold geometric pattern.

Authentic Art Deco jewelry doesn’t feature modern, round brilliant diamonds but newer cuts like baguettes, triangle cuts, and emerald cuts. Diamond accents and stepped diamond shoulders were often used to accentuate the natural beauty of more traditional diamond cuts such as antique cushion, transitional, old European, and Asscher.

Caliber-cut stones were a key feature in Art Deco designs — these are gemstones that are custom cut specifically to fit into a piece of jewelry. They are tightly spaced against other stones or metal to give the wow factor to the overall design. Filigree work was another important feature of this era. This technique was perfected in the late 1920s through die-cast machines, making it readily available by the early 1930s.

Colored gemstones were often used in Art Deco engagement rings and other jewelry of the period. Emerald, ruby, and blue sapphire were especially popular as they captured the style of the time with their bright and decadent coloring. Typical Art Deco engagement rings would see these gemstones contrasted against the new shape of baguette-cut diamonds, and these jewelry designs were occasionally softened by the addition of pearls.

These design features combine to give Art Deco jewelry its iconic, unique, and timeless style, which even today remains an enduring classic. Art Deco jewelry is still a popular choice among our customers for engagement rings, rings, or other pieces of occasion jewelry.

 

What Should I Look for When Choosing an Art Deco Engagement Ring?

Ever since Pippa Middleton wowed the fashion world with her dazzling four-carat diamond Art Deco engagement ring (rumored to have cost over a quarter-of-a-million pounds), Rêve Diamonds has been inundated with requests from our valued customers for engagement rings that wouldn’t look out of place at one of the Great Gatsby’s opulent parties. So, if your partner is a lady who likes to make a daring statement or appreciates the beauty of vintage jewelry designs, an Art Deco engagement ring is an excellent choice. These rings perfectly embody the opulence and iconic style of the 1920s and 30s. To this day, they remain timeless in their elegance. The main features that you should look for when choosing an Art Deco engagement ring are:

 

Circles, Triangles, and Rectangles

The shape of an Art Deco engagement ring is perhaps its most important element. These engagement rings typically feature bold shapes, whether an architecturally-inspired setting or a large center diamond. Some rings feature contrasting shapes, such as a round center set within a cushion halo. In another ring design, you may see large emerald-cut center stones mirrored with horizontal and vertical lines. A design element unique to Art Deco rings is the use of small square gemstones set into halos instead of small rounds or the addition of triangular or trapezoidal side stones to a round or square center, both of which make a statement piece that will turn heads.

 

Consider Adding Color

Art Deco engagement rings are characteristically big and bold, which is a sign of the times in which they originated. They often feature colored gemstones and diamonds. In some designs, these colored gems are the center stone, while in others, they are used with a bold colored halo or as side stone accents.

 

Size Is All Important

In the 1920s and 30s, women lived in a time of opulence and excess and enjoyed newfound freedoms. Naturally, they wanted to show off their worth, good taste, and style. Accordingly, the jewelry of the period was very flashy. This need to create the wow factor resulted in many Art Deco engagement rings centered around very large stones. The use of affordable colored gemstones allowed this look to be achieved for the right price range, even if the groom-to-be didn't have a massive budget! And if you don't want a large center stone, another way to create the look is to opt for a smaller stone set in a big geometric setting such as a round halo, cushion, or even square.

 

Platinum Is the Way to Go

During the heyday of Art Deco, platinum became extremely fashionable. White gold was invented to provide those who could not afford platinum with a less expensive alternative that looked as good as the rare metal. Yellow gold and rose gold were the choices of the Georgian, Edwardian, and Victorian eras, but the Art Deco period was the time for something completely fresh and new.

 

Get the Ring Sizing Right

As part of the excellent customer service provided by the expert team at Rêve Diamonds, we offer professional ring sizing to ensure our customers get the perfect fit. Whether you’re buying an Art Deco engagement ring or any other design, it’s vital you get the ring sizing right. We do, of course, provide a free resizing service for your ring purchase, but please bear in mind that while altering a ring to make it smaller doesn’t pose any problems, making a ring bigger can weaken the band and even lead to it breaking later. Therefore, taking advantage of our free ring sizing service when considering our range is highly recommended.

 

How Do I Buy an Art Deco Engagement Ring from Rêve Diamonds?

Within our unique selection of beautiful jewelry are engagement rings and wedding bands that accurately reflect the designs of this modernist era and showcase eye-catching vintage beauty. We have a range of Art Deco engagement rings in our collection already designed, but we can also make a custom Art Deco style ring to suit your tastes and budget and fulfill your loved one’s dreams! We are widely recognised as experts in recreating engagement rings using jewelry designs of the 1920s and 1930s. So if you are a lover of vintage-inspired fashion and particularly admire the elegance of this era, why not celebrate with your very own unique engagement ring from Rêve Diamonds?

Here at Rêve Diamonds, our showroom and website offer an amazing range of diamond engagement rings, each of which makes an excellent choice to show your lifelong commitment to the one you love. Our diamond inventory features over 50,000 natural loose diamonds and lab-grown diamonds of all shapes, styles, and sizes, helping you find the perfect diamond for your engagement ring and budget.

Art Deco is a popular choice for customers who want to create a timeless statement piece that will always be in style. Whether it’s a diamond engagement ring, wedding band, or any other piece of jewelry, we’ll help you find your perfect piece.

At Rêve Diamonds, we ensure the diamonds used in our Art Deco engagement rings are sourced ethically and perfectly cut. This ensures beautiful and timeless pieces at the right price and in the right style. All of our loose diamonds and jewelry designs are available to view in our New York, US showroom — simply book a virtual or in-person appointment, and we’ll help you find your dream piece of jewelry.

 

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