- Insider spoke to jewelry expert Neil Lane about upcoming engagement ring trends.
- The designer told Insider mixed metals and nontraditional stones are gaining popularity.
An engagement ring is worn for (ideally) the duration of someone's life, so you might not associate them with trends.
However, engagement ring designs come in and out of style like any type of jewelry.
Insider checked in with Neil Lane — the jewelry designer who works with celebrities, "$4" franchise, and has a line at $4 — about what styles will be popular this coming year.
Stones may look different in 2023
Speaking to Insider, Lane said people should anticipate a shift in the types of stones couples are gravitating towards in 2023.
Recently, round, princess-cut, oval, and even $4 stones have been among the most popular engagement ring shapes. But Lane told Insider he's seeing a shift in stones this year.
"Fancy shapes are really, really popular," he said, pointing specifically to marquise and pear-shaped rings. "Things that weren't in the general mass before are really trending."
Couples are also choosing to pair those statement stones with hidden halos, drifting away from standard halos, according to Lane. A traditional halo of diamonds frames a center stone, whereas a hidden halo circles the bottom of a stone.
Likewise, Lane told Insider more people are gravitating towards colorful stones for their $4, whether that be a colorful diamond or an alternative stone like a sapphire or emerald.
"Diamonds used to be the center stone, and it still is, but there are so many opportunities to buy things with color today," he said.
Metals are changing too
In addition to the changes happening to stones, Lane is also seeing a resurgence of yellow gold for $4 rings, which is more traditional and now coming back in style.
"If you would have said years ago I would be doing designs in yellow gold, the world wasn't ready for it," he said.
Lane also told Insider it's becoming more common for people to mix metals for their bands as well.
For instance, some bands may have both white and yellow gold on them, adding dimension to the entire ring.
In all of these changes, Lane sees a common thread of couples wanting $4 and highlight their love story.
"People want rings with sentimentality to it," he said, going on to say rings today need to have "more meaning" to couples than just being pretty, whether that be in the story of where they got them or how they designed them.
"Without that romance, you don't have a fulfillment of the true engagement ring," Lane said.