Some brides-to-be openly discuss their dream engagement rings, creating mood boards, getting fittings and going shopping before the proposal. In Selena Gomez’s case, some say she may have dropped the ultimate ring hint as a lyrical Easter egg in her 2015 song, “Good for You.”
“I’m on my marquise diamonds, I’m a marquise diamond,” Gomez sings in the steamy pop song. “Could even make that Tiffany jealous.”
When the actress and singer announced her engagement to Benny Blanco on Wednesday, she posted photos of herself wearing a marquise diamond engagement ring.
She and Blanco, a record producer and songwriter, have been publicly in a relationship for about a year. In a video clip posted to her Instagram stories, Gomez showed off the ring on a video call, prompting screams of joy from the caller on her phone.
“I said yes to this!” Gomez exclaims in the clip. “It’s so pretty.”
On Instagram, she posted a slideshow of photos from the proposal, showing her beaming at her ring as she sat on a picnic blanket with Taco Bell takeout. She wrote “forever begins now” in the caption. In comments on the post, a flood of fellow celebrities congratulated the couple, with Taylor Swift offering to be the “flower girl” at the wedding and Blanco writing, “hey wait … that’s my wife.”
Gomez and Blanco have been open about their relationship, speaking warmly of each other in interviews and posting photos on social media. Gomez has previously worn another piece of jewelry celebrating their love: a sparkling Jacquie Aiche ring emblazoned with a “B” initial, for Blanco.
The marquise style of diamond is said to date to 18th-century France, when King Louis XV ordered a jewel cut to resemble his lover’s lips. Its unique shape, resembling an oval, evokes romantic folklore.
It’s a style that befits “the artistic, the wanderlust-y person who beats to the tune of their own drum and wants to do something different and wants to stand out, but also regards the history of the classics,” said Jade Trau, a fine jewelry designer whose namesake brand features marquise cut pieces.
She described Gomez’s ring as “a very contemporary, modern-looking marquise cut” with a “yellow-gold setting” and a “chunkier pavé band” with “little diamonds” on the band.
Trau, who comes from a family of New York diamond manufacturers and has been working with diamonds since the late 1990s, said that she has been wearing her grandmother’s marquise ring for years. When she first began wearing it, the style wasn’t as popular, she said. But lately, she has noticed that the look has become more of a trend.
“Now it’s like the hot stone of the moment,” Trau said. “On one hand, it has this really contemporary feel to it and on the other hand, it looks like a leaf — it has this very organic, natural feel to it.”
Reported estimates of the potential cost of Gomez’s engagement ring have ranged from about $200,000 to $1 million. Based on the apparent size of the marquise diamond and the diamonds on the band, Trau estimates the total weight to be a little over 4 carats, which she said would cost $150,000 to $200,000.
While the speculated price tag has become a point of interest, the larger story lies in the meaning and details of the ring. Whether or not Blanco selected it based on Gomez’s song, this ring stands apart as something distinctly personal and intentional.
“This is not a cookie-cutter ring,” said Cathy Waterman, the California-based jeweler known for crafting pieces for celebrities, including Swift. “This is a ring that somebody thought about,” she said, adding: “The ring reflects how he feels about her.”
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