Engagement ring trends for 2025
A 1-carat diamond ring is a beautiful and popular jewellery item. Especially popular for engagements, 1-carat diamond rings are easily customizable to suit individual preferences.
Before buying a 1-carat diamond ring, here are some key points you need to know, and the price depends on a variety of factors.
Seeing as all our diamond engagement rings are accompanied by quality GIA certified centre stones, let’s go through a GIA certificate and explain each category to have a deeper understanding on how to choose a perfectly matched diamond ring for yourselves.
The four “C’s” of diamonds:
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) established the grading system in the 1940s and created a consistent and objective way to assess diamonds in the marketplace.
Specifically, the four “C’s” elements to consider when purchasing a diamond are its cut (the diamond’s reflective properties), clarity (presence of blemishes or inclusions on the diamond), colour (the presence or absence of colour), and carat.
Cut: Shape and cutting style are significant to a diamond. GIA provide a standard system to the cut quality of a standard round brilliant diamond from Excellent to Poor.
While a term like oval would refer to the shape of a diamond, cut describes the overall design of a diamond, including the arrangement and proportions of the diamond’s facets from top to bottom, including the table size, crown height, girdle thickness and pavilion depth, overall depth along with many other important measurements.
Clarity: The clarity grade is an industry standard for grading the purity, each clarity grade reflects the number, size, and visibility of a diamond’s inclusions and blemishes under 10x magnification.
The clarity grade is from flawless (FL) –with no visible flaw or inclusion under 10x magnification to included (I1-I3) — with flaws that can be easily noticed with the naked eye.
Those diamonds having flawless and internally flawless grades are the most expensive due to their rarity, while Included (I1-I3) diamonds are more affordable but may compromise the appearance, having inclusions visible to the naked eye.
However, a well-cut diamond with a lower clarity grade can still appear stunning and clear, as cut quality and brilliance can cover some inclusions.
For instance, VS2 and SI1 diamonds offer excellent value, providing near-eye-clean clarity without the premium price.
A 1-carat diamond may not require an extremely high clarity grade, as inclusions are harder to detect for this size.
Colour: The diamond colour grade plays an important role in deciding the diamond price. GIA colour grade has been divided into 5 categories: colourless, near colourless, faint, and very light to light.
The diamond colour grade colourless D, E, F, which is the top GIA colour scale, is the colourless grade. Most of the diamonds we sell in our studio are with the grade of colourless.
The higher the grade, the more colourless the diamond will be. G and below grade of the diamond may look yellow, brown or grey.
Carat: The term carat refers to the weight of the diamond. Typical carat sizes range from ¼ carat to 2 carats. One carat equals 200 milligrams.
There is no carved-in-stone rule when it comes to determining what size of diamond to purchase, but a 1-carat diamond ring is a popular and timeless choice.
What’s more, because of the various cuts on different diamonds, the diamond with the same weight would not have the same appearance, and some of them may be deeper, while the others might have a larger surface.
Advanced factors in choosing diamonds:
Despite the significance of the famous 4 “C’s” of diamond, other characteristics of a diamond also play a vital role in the price and preference of a one-carat diamond.
Polish is one of the important grading elements, if the diamond polish is excellent it has had the time spent on creating a beautiful mirror like surface.
Polish is the grading of the overall condition of a finished diamond’s facet surfaces. To maximize the brilliance of your diamond, if possible choose only an excellent polished diamond for your engagement ring.
Symmetry refers to The exactness of the shape and the placement of a diamond’s facets which plays a very important role on how a diamond can scintillate and sparkle.
Fluorescence is another important characteristic. If you have a diamond with a strong fluorescence, it may have a cloudy appearance in the sunlight. Ideally a stone with none or faint fluorescence is ideal.
The trending diamond engagement rings
Popular 1 carat engagement diamond ring styles for solitaire diamonds include:
- A shift to the marquise cut diamond:
A marquise cut diamond has an elongated, oval shape with pointed ends. The legend says that King Louis XV of France commissioned a diamond cut in this shape to resemble the smile of the Marquise de Pompadour, his mistress.
Celebrities also showed their preference for marquise cut diamonds that have a long and glamorous history. Selena Gomez recently announced her engagement to Benny Blanco on Instagram, showing her engagement ring.
Gomes’s ring is quite an example of the style, which is a marquise cut diamond on a pavé diamond band.
Thanks to the shape of the marquise cut diamond, it can make the ring appear larger than its actual carat weight. A trend for having a bigger carat of diamond ring makes the marquise cut diamond a more affordable option.
Our studio also integrates this timeless artistic aesthetic into modern designs.
As shown in the image, our meticulously crafted marquise-cut diamond engagement ring revives royal romance with its elongated captivating brilliance, while the gold band enhances the prominence of the centre stone.
Rose Gold Alicia Marquise Solitaire
- Bridal Set Engagement Ring:
A Bridal Set Engagement Ring is a solitaire paired with a plain or diamond-accented band, which beautifully captures both classic and contemporary.
This trend emphasises the combination of pieces for a personalized look, showcasing a harmonious blend of textures and styles to break the tradition.
It is an easy way for you to update a classic ring with another bold design ring. While a solitaire showcases a timeless design and its perpetual popularity, another eye-popping band gives a fresh appearance to your rings.
What makes the style much more attractive is that you can take the band off to go back to a simple look of a solitaire or add more to stack up the sparkle.
- The rise of coloured centre Diamonds:
Recently, coloured diamonds have become very popular in customizing engagement rings. It is a noticeable trend of customers opting for bright, bold-coloured stones rather than traditional white diamonds.
Coloured gemstones bring a fresh and playful touch to engagement rings, used as an engagement ring’s centre stone or as accents to a classic diamond.
Melita Pink Argyle Heart shape
Keep in mind that a 1-carat diamond ring does not necessarily have to be from one stone. Total carat weight is used to describe a ring of multiple diamonds.
This is a good option for some people, as the diamond configuration can resemble many intricate or even simple designs. However, some people do prefer the single solitaire diamond.
Popular styles for 1-carat engagement diamond rings of multi-stone settings include:
- Three-stone engagement rings:
Instead of a single focal point, in this style, the total carat weight is distributed across three stones.
Usually, the centre stone is slightly larger and is flanked by two equally sized or slightly smaller diamonds that represent the past, present, and future of your relationship, adding a larger overall size appearance, and a mix of vintage and contemporary elements, making the ring both timeless and unique.
Rose Gold Theodora 3 Stone Engagement Rings
- Hidden Accents rings
The hidden accents on the side halo of some rings add a special touch to engagement rings, which is a perfect fit to couples who are searching for a ring with hidden details.
Platinum Charlotte Round Solitaire
Accented rings:
small accents to add to the beauty
White Gold Sophia Marquise Solitaire
Nick Ireland is an expert in assisting clients with this process, having been in the diamond and jewellery manufacturing industry for over 40 years.
Discussing with him your ideal jewellery item will bring you one step closer to owning a beautiful piece of jewellery set with a quality diamond.
References:
- https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/diamond-cut/
- https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/diamond-engagement-rings/4cs-of-diamonds/diamond-color-grading-understanding-the-diamond-color-scale/
https://www.miadonna.com/blogs/news/top-engagement-ring-trends-of-2024-discover-the-hottest-styles-for-the-year - https://www.brides.com/engagement-ring-trends-2025-8761563
- https://www.goodstoneinc.com/blogs/engagement-ring-buying-guide/2024-engagement-ring-trends?srsltid=AfmBOorK_h0E_EyCvm53UHER_BaCu_qEnnJZWLK6qBgkSvyoW96w9MVu
- https://www.elle.com.au/fashion/wedding/marquise-diamond-engagement-ring/
