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Single stones, colour-pop gems and wedding band pairings might be dominating the engagement ring market, but for the Vogue editors, it’s always been about originality. Less all-out sparkle, more sentimental, many of these staffers truffled out their personal bands in vintage jewellery emporiums with their fiancés. Others put the onus squarely on sustainability, as well as timelessness, while some took the opportunity to shine a light on the work of lesser-known designers. Here, the keepsakes the team said “yes” to and what they love about them years down the line.
Rachel Garrahan, jewellery & watch director
Unbeknownst to me, my now-husband had been trying to pluck up the courage to propose for some time and finally dropped the question while we were at a friend’s wedding. We had to keep it secret for the rest of the day. The best bit of course was going ring hunting together and being a lifelong lover of mixed metals, I ended up going for a platinum and rose-gold ring from David Ashton. Nineteen years and three kids later, the ring no longer fits. Perhaps it’s time for a redesign?
Rosie Vogel-Eades, global director, talent & casting
My husband proposed with a beautiful vintage signet ring as a “placeholder” – which I now wear on my pinkie – and we went ring shopping together as he wanted me to choose something I loved. I always knew I wanted something a little bit bigger rather than just a simple solitaire, and I fell in love with my ring as soon as we saw it in Berganza – a great vintage jewellery shop in Hatton Garden. It’s a platinum Art-Deco piece with a large aquamarine stone and two diamond baguettes.
Emily Chan, senior sustainability & features editor
There was always an explicit understanding that I would pick out my own engagement ring. My now-husband knows how specific my taste is, so he booked us an appointment at London-based ethical jewellers Ingle & Rhode. Luckily, it was quite easy to narrow down the design – a trilogy of diamonds – as many of the other styles, including the classic solitaire, just didn’t suit me. All of Ingle & Rhode’s natural diamonds are fully traceable and conflict-free, while I opted for a Fairtrade-gold band, which ensures safe conditions and fair pay for workers.
With the ring picked, Ali still managed to surprise me with the proposal during a weekend away in Cambridge, where we first met and now live (although I must confess I loved the ring so much I did sneakily try it on a couple of times beforehand, while it was sitting around in our flat!).
Jessica Diner, European beauty & wellness director
My husband Ed and I don’t have the most traditional of proposal stories, as we embarked on a three-year process for me to convert to Judaism before we formally got engaged or married. We had discussed wanting to get married very early on in our relationship and knew that was where we were headed, so the conversion itself was like one long engagement. But once the conversion was complete and after our final meeting with the rabbinical authorities to confirm so, Ed presented me with a beautiful cushion-cut diamond stone. I am very particular when it comes to my jewellery, so rather than him worrying about what style or setting to get, he chose the stone and then we went together to BM Bijoux, a bespoke jeweller on Bond Street, to decide on a setting, where I chose a delicate band and a halo of tiny stones around the main centrepiece diamond. That was over nine years ago, and I have never taken it off since.
Lauren Murdoch-Smith, senior beauty & wellness editor
I always thought I would want a plain band with a solitaire if I got engaged, but like wedding dresses, the style of a ring doesn’t always suit you. After a somewhat low-key proposal – I’ll spare you the details – my now-husband knew that choosing a ring was all down to me. I went to an antique jeweller in Covent Garden to get a feel for what was available style-wise and immediately fell in love with a vintage ring which had a solitaire diamond with baguette diamond shoulders on either side of it. It was like the style was meant for me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the design, so we decided to have one made by a jeweller who sourced the diamond for us and set it in a thin platinum band. I love it just as much now as I did when I first put it on my finger.
Alice Newbold, executive fashion news & features editor
I knew it was the one when I sent my then-boyfriend a picture of the rough antique diamond ring left to me by my Granny in her will. I was on a train with a paper coffee cup in my hand. “I wish your Dad had told me,” he said. A bashful emoji followed. I stowed the ring in the top drawer of my bedside cabinet as soon as I got home, and there it stayed until one morning, when Charlie got down on one knee, backdropped by balloons, flowers and croissants (essential), in the kitchen. The ring is scrappy and barely sparkly after years of wear and tear, but that’s what I love about it: it’s made to be lived in. He took me to Paris on another train later that day.
Laura Ingham, deputy director, Global Fashion Network
My husband scoured London’s Hatton Garden for the vintage ’20s engagement ring he chose for me. He settled on a very simple design with a cluster of small diamonds set as a flower with an asymmetric wedding band in very fine platinum. I love how delicate the look and feel of the ring is and keep it pared back, by wearing it without a wedding band.
Laura Hawkins, fashion features editor
He put the ring – a delicate Delfina Delettrez band, its central diamond pierced with a bar bookended with pearls – in an empty glass jar, offering me a “biscuit” on the balcony of our olive grove-surrounded hotel room in Sicily. The ring, bought from Dover Street Market, was meant to be a placeholder, but really nothing else could compare. The style is too fragile to wear day-in, day-out, so when it came to a wedding band, which I wear as a single ring, I opted for something with a bit of bling. My husband and I have matching wedding bands by Thai jeweller Patcharavipa that resemble chunky twists of rope. His is crafted in solid Siam gold, mine is the identical in design, but dusted with diamonds.
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