If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that engagement rings aren’t meant to fit one mold. Choosing your dream engagement ring isn’t about chasing a trend or replicating the same style Instagram serves up every time you open the app. It’s about creating something that feels personal and enduring. These 2026 engagement ring trends reflect a growing shift toward custom design and rings that feel deeply personal rather than mass-produced.
Expect surprising juxtapositions: vintage and special cut diamonds, chunky bold settings, bright shiny platinum and colorful gemstone accents. Here are the 6 “trends” we foresee taking center stage next year…and they might just make you rethink everything you thought you knew about engagement rings.
1. Old-World Antique Diamonds
Antique diamonds are no longer reserved exclusively for vintage jewelry. We are seeing old diamond cuts (for example the old mine, antique cushion and old european) reimagined in clean, contemporary engagement ring settings.
Unlike original vintage settings that are often delicate and ornate, with milgrain and filigree detailing; modern, custom designed settings can be clean, bold, chunky, or thin and delicate, without the fuss.
An engagement ring custom designed around a unique antique diamond allows you to carry its story forward, in your own tone, without losing the rich, meaningful history intrinsic to an old stone. The magic lies in the contrast of an old world diamond set in a contemporary setting. The past meets the present, while symbolic of the future.
2. Champagne "Desert" Diamonds
While colorless diamonds have earned their spot at the top for a reason (rarity = value), 2026 is shaping up to celebrate a different facet of uniqueness. In years past, engagement ring diamonds typically fell in the colorless-to-near-colorless range; that is D-J color. Traditionally, “off color” diamonds, or those that fell in the K-Z color range were deemed undesirable, because they were far less rare and valuable than colorless stones.
However, the uptick in antique diamond interest, naturally infused diamonds that fell outside of that ideal color range. These soft, warm diamonds became known as champagne colored diamonds.
The beautiful thing about them is that not every K or M colored diamond, for example, is the same hue. There can be a range of peachy, brownish, yellow tone to each diamond, further differentiating them from colorless diamonds and giving them even more character and variability from one diamond to another.
These “desert diamonds” pair especially well with yellow gold, as it enhances and showcases their warmth. This is a stark contrast from the “traditional jeweler” approach which suggests colorless diamonds be set in white gold or platinum to mask any warmth or yellow color. If you want a champagne diamond, you likely love the depth and life the stone has and want to show that off, not hide it!
3. Colored Gemstones
A different punch of color seems to be popping up in engagement rings as well! Precious colored gemstones (think blue sapphires, emeralds, or rubies) are being incorporated in two primary ways.
(1) As a center stone, either as a solitaire or a three stone ring with a colored center and colorless side stones. Notice a theme of contrast or juxtaposition yet?
(2) As side stones or subtle pave accents in an otherwise diamond-centric engagement ring.
In addition to being striking and unique, incorporating color into your engagement ring can be meaningful and deeply personal. The gemstones can be a subtle nod to someone special’s birthstone, for example. Or they could represent a shared value between you and your partner; a sapphire, for example, represents loyalty and protection.
4. Chunky, Bold Gold
Fine, delicate bands have been having their moment for some time (and it’s totally okay if you still love that look— we do too)! If, however, you’re craving something new, you’re in luck because chunky, heavy gold is in.
Engagement ring bands are not only changing in weight (or width) but they are also changing in shape. What once was a more or less uniform super delicate engagement ring shank (band) is now becoming increasingly tapered or graduated. It’s getting more pillowy and puffy, or in some cases flat and square in shape.
No matter the shape, the band in engagement ring settings is definitely getting more attention than it had in years passed. And that’s great for anyone who loves the idea of a bolder design. A fun band really allows the whole package to shine instead of the solitaire center stone doing all the work.
5. Asymmetrical, Imperfect Designs
If you’re craving something fresh, this trend is for you! It’s yet another shift away from that hyper delicate, perfectly “balanced” cookie-cutter solitaire engagement ring. The details in this style of ring will be subtle but impactful. It's small adjustments to traditional design that make these custom designed asymmetrical and/or “off set” designs feel like a piece of art.
Floating diamonds seem to balance their weight, somehow defying gravity and hanging onto the edge of a band. Coil engagement rings are a beautiful way to infuse more gold without moving too far into the really heavy chunky gold trend.
These intentionally, perfectly-imperfect designed engagement rings feel expressive, and unique. It reminds the world (and yourself) that you’re not meant to blend in.
6. The Return of Platinum
If you love fashion jewelry alllllmost as much as you love fine jewelry, then you’d have to be living under a rock to not have noticed the resurgence of sterling silver. With the cost of gold rising and nearly every engagement ring being cast in yellow gold, I think we are craving some variety. Silver is serving that up in fashion bangles and large scale pieces that are just so expensive to make in gold.
Silver, however, is a soft metal, prone to tarnishing, and not suitable for engagement rings. So, platinum typically takes silver's place as the “white colored metal” of choice in fine jewelry. White gold is used as well, but platinum is a more striking silvery grey color vs. white gold which has a soft yellow cast.
In addition to seeing more solid platinum engagement rings, I predict that those who love their yellow gold engagement ring may start to infuse some platinum bands, possibly as their wedding band… or maybe down the road as an anniversary band or push present.
The contrast of mixing metals allows for more individualized, creative expression and adds texture and interest to your stacking ring collection. I mean, who doesn’t love to have options?!
The unexpected that feels imperfectly-perfect for you.
What I believe we are really seeing in the years ahead, is a mindset shift. People are embracing the idea that engagement rings don’t have to belong to one style, one category, one type of person. Instead, they’re becoming intentionally, meticulously curated reflections of love and individuality that really celebrate how unique and different each couple’s story is.
Your engagement ring (and wedding band and all the stacking bands that come after) is like a quiet expression of who you are, what you value, and how you want to present yourself to the world.
So, if you’re designing your dream ring this year, consider this permission to break the mold.
Combine eras.
Have fun with color.
Do something unexpected.
And dream up something completely, beautifully yours. Because the most timeless engagement ring isn’t the most classic, it’s the one that feels like you.
