A History of Engagement Rings Vol. 1: The 1980’s

We loved researching and writing the Famous Jewelry In The Movies series so much that when it ended, we felt a little lost. But then we started to think about engagement rings and how the styles have changed from decade to decade and bam! A new series idea was born. So, over the next 10 weeks we’ll explore the history of the engagement ring starting with the 1980’s (because you know we love our vintage) and heading backwards to the late 1800’s. Are you ready for the ride? Excellent!

Well, we couldn’t talk about engagement rings in the 1980’s with out mentioning one of the most famous rings of that time period: Princess Diana’s sapphire and diamond stunner. With the unveiling of that ring, women all over the world began clamoring for engagement rings with a sapphire center stone surrounded by diamonds and thus a trend was born. Or… reborn, we should say. Diamonds as the centerpiece of an engagement ring are a relatively new phenomenon and prior to the late 1930’s, colored stones were much more popular for an engagement ring (we’ll get into that down the road).

But even with the popularity of Diana and her ring, there were still other trends that played out in the years that made up the over the top 80’s (beyond my Liz Claiborne bag, filled with Aqua Net, necessary for the required bang height, and neon nail polish to go with my pink leopard print stirrup pants, but I digress….). Yellow gold was HOT and the trend de rigueur. But what else do you need during an over the top era to go with your yellow gold?

As many different types of cut diamonds as possible, apparently. And set in as many ways as one could imagine. There were the standard round brilliant cuts, of course, but the marquise was center stage and often accompanied by channel set stones on the sides or in a flourish or swoop down the shank. And often found with a wedding band to match!