Engagement Ring Trends In The News: 2026
Bridal
Engagement Ring Trends in the News: Yellow Gold, Quiet Ovals and the Three-Stone Comeback
Every year somebody declares the death of the oval solitaire. It hasn't happened yet. But 2026 has been a busy year for engagement rings anyway, and three recent articles, from National Jeweler, Who What Wear and Marie Claire, show what's moving. One looks at what couples are actually buying. The other two look at what two of fashion's favorite new fiancées are wearing. Spoiler: yellow gold shows up in all three.
National Jeweler: Engagement Ring Trends 2026, What's In and Why
If you want numbers instead of red carpet photos, start here. In her March roundup, editor-in-chief Michelle Graff pulls together data from The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study plus interviews with designers, retailers and jewelry historian Marion Fasel. The headline stat? Yellow gold is now the single most popular metal, picked by 39% of couples against 35% for white gold. Its share has more than doubled in five years.
Shapes are shifting too. Rounds (26%) and ovals (25%) are nearly tied at the top, and The Knot's Esther Lee puts the oval's rise down to Hailey Bieber's famous ring. Stuller's Katelyn Meche says emerald, marquise and elongated cushion cuts are growing fastest. Thicker bands with bezel or burnish-set stones keep gaining ground as well. Fasel's take on that look: "It feels modern compared to the classic silhouette of a solitaire."
Our favorite detail is further down. Seventy-nine percent of couples said the person wearing the ring helped choose it, and a quarter shopped together. Surprise proposals still happen. The ring just isn't usually the surprise anymore. As anyone who's tried to guess a ring size by sneaking one out of a jewelry box can tell you, that's probably for the best.
Who What Wear: Zoë Kravitz and the Quiet Engagement Ring
When Zoë Kravitz stepped out in London in April with a new diamond on her left hand, the internet did what the internet does. Who What Wear UK's Natalie Munro zoomed in on the ring itself. In her piece, she describes a sizeable oval diamond set low into a slim yellow gold band, worn with an oversized tee and ballet flats, and calls it the ring trend every cool girl is after.
The appeal is restraint. After a few years of chunky cigar bands and stones that need their own security detail, here's a big diamond that doesn't shout about it. Madeleine Sangster of Heavenly London described the look as "confident without being overly flashy." We'd add a practical upside. A low setting is a lot less likely to snag on sweaters, hair and everything else a tall prong catches on.
Marie Claire: Devon Lee Carlson Could Spark a Three-Stone Revival
Then there's model Devon Lee Carlson, who announced her engagement to actor Duke Nicholson in June. Her ring skips the solitaire entirely. It's a three-stone design, with a large center diamond and a smaller one on each side, on a fine yellow gold band. In Marie Claire, Caitlin Napier argues it could bring three-stone rings back after years of oval solitaires running the show.
Melbourne jeweler Kosta Theochari reads it as vintage Art Deco, with a low setting and a center stone of around 2 carats, possibly an old mine cut. (The article itself calls it a round brilliant. Everyone's squinting at the same Instagram photos.) He also called trilogy rings "one of the most sentimental designs," since the three stones traditionally stand for past, present and future. Sentimental and smart, honestly. Side stones make a center diamond look bigger without you paying for a bigger center diamond.
Designing an Engagement Ring Around Your Own Style
Trends are a decent starting point. The ring still has to work on your hand. When we design a custom engagement ring, we look at how high the stone sits, how wide the band feels, which metal suits your skin and the rest of your jewelry, and whether it'll need to stack with a wedding band later. Want the low profile of Kravitz's ring with three stones like Carlson's? We can do that. Still figuring out what you like? Try our AI ring design tool and play with a few ideas first.
Matthew Howe - Director of Operations — The Custom Jeweler
Matthew Howe has worked in diamonds since 2012, spending his first years alongside the buyers at a recycled and estate diamond wholesaler — learning how stones are graded, priced, and marked up well before they reach a retail case. He runs The Custom Jeweler day to day and still works client projects himself: the first call, the stone list, CAD approvals, and the last photos before a piece ships. Most of what he writes started as a question a client asked him on the phone.
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