Why the Bold Gold Ring Is Becoming the Modern Bride’s Signature
From Dua Lipa to Miley Cyrus, stylish brides are embracing chunky gold engagement rings as a fresh alternative to traditional settings.
Harwell Godfrey Hubba Ring Setting. (Courtesy of Harwell Godfrey)
On Christmas Eve in 2024, Dua Lipa posted her first selfie wearing a gold ring on the third finger of her left hand in one of her famous Instagram photo dumps. While the image should’ve been an obvious statement that the pop singer was engaged to her actor boyfriend, Callum Turner, the press and fans weren’t sure. The jewel was difficult to see in the photo because it was taken from a distance.
Brent Neale Winston is a New York City-based designer and founder of her brand, Brent Neale. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University, where she made jewelry as a pastime, Brent received an Associate’s degree in jewelry design from the Fashion Institute of Technology.
David Rees is a self-taught jeweler and founder of TENTHOUSANDTHINGS. His jewelry is inspired by abstract shapes found in nature and highlights expertly chosen stones.
Darya Khonsary is the founder and designer of Darius. She has an eye for the unusual and a deep reverence for old-world diamond cutting.
Dua Lipa’s Non-Traditional Gold Engagement Ring
As the days, weeks, and months went by, Lipa showed clear, close-up shots of the gold ring in radiant selfies. By social media standards, she was screaming, “I’m engaged!” Still, there was hesitation. Since the singer hadn’t officially confirmed the news, some thought perhaps the wide gold band centering on a round diamond was a friendship ring, something akin to a placeholder. It just didn’t look like an engagement ring.
Ever since 1886, when the six-prong Tiffany Setting launched, and even before that time, diamonds have been the star of engagement rings while the gold or platinum mounting played a supporting role. Dua Lipa’s ring was different. The gold was a co-star.
In June 2025, the singer finally confirmed to British Vogue that the ring was, in fact, an engagement ring and her fiancé had designed it. “I’m obsessed with it. It’s so me,” she said. “It’s nice to know the person that you’re going to spend the rest of your life with knows you very well.”
While the news reverberated through the press, there were still remarks about how unusual the design was for an engagement ring. People magazine called the jewel “unconventional.” Teen Vogue took it a step further, saying how the unique gold ring had helped Lipa “fly under the radar” with her engagement news.
Miley Cyrus Continues the Bold Gold Ring Trend
Well, it didn’t take long for “unconventional” styles to become a hot choice for brides. The most high-profile being the engagement ring Miley Cyrus received from musician Maxx Morandor early last December. The custom jewel designed by celebrity favorite Jacquie Aiche features an east-west set cushion cut diamond weighing around 4.5-carats, plunged in a gold ring with a wide bezel and thick band. Miley’s jewel conjures up the look of a diamond signet ring more than an engagement ring. In the distant past, the style might have been categorized as a men’s ring.
While the bold gold diamond rings are new to the celebrity landscape, there are lots of innovative designers who have been making rings in the mode. These iconoclasts focus on gold jewelry in their collections and design engagement rings from their own perspective, rather than adhering to traditional ideas about what engagement rings should look like.
The Designers Leading the Gold Ring Revival
Designers Harwell Godfrey, Spinelli Kilcollin and Zahn Z incorporate signature elements into their rings like ziggurat shapes, stacked rings and architectural swoops. The work of designers Cece Jewellery, Jade Ruzzo, Jacquie Aiche, and Ashley Zhang features geometric and organic forms. Brent Neale, Darius and TENTHOUSANDTHINGS riff on deeply historic styles.
Why, you may be wondering, haven’t these wearable styles been part of the engagement ring conversation sooner? Well, conventional wisdom, mainly spouted by gemologists, was that yellow gold could cast a yellow light across white diamonds. Platinum, on the other hand, was believed to enhance the brilliance and fire of white gems in engagement rings.
Designers today have a different outlook that is easy to understand. “I think the contrast of a white diamond against the yellow metal makes it appear whiter,” explains Brent Neale. “When I’ve seen lower quality white diamonds set in platinum, I notice the yellow in the gem. Having the white metal next to the white diamond makes the yellow stand out.”
On the flip side of the diamond color spectrum, the earthy colors of golden and brown hues, now often referred to as desert diamonds, sparkle plenty in yellow gold settings. “I’m often shocked at just how much a big juicy gold curve around a diamond enhances it,” says David Rees, co-designer of Ten Thousand Things. “The frame of gold feels eternal, like something made by the ancients.”
Darya Khonsary, the founder and designer of Darius, also considers the classical world and beyond when designing her gold and diamond rings. “Gold is as old as the celestial bodies, born of ancient stars, carried in the deep veins of the Earth, and entrusted to our hands.” It’s a romantic view that’s just right for someone designing engagement rings.
One thing is certain with celebrities like Dua Lipa and Miley Cyrus choosing bold gold diamond engagement rings and designers like the ones featured on these pages making such stunning work, no one will ever again confuse the style when worn on the third finger of the left hand as anything other than a strong symbol of a couple’s union.