Two Big Engagement Ring Trends for 2022: Art Deco Emerald Cut and Lab Grown Diamonds

Two Big Engagement Ring Trends for 2022: Art Deco Emerald Cut and Lab Grown Diamonds AOC Fashion

For over 20 years, I’ve been focused on three major subsets of Americans: the traditionalists, the moderns, and the cultural creatives. Hearst’s Diego Gravinese Fractalia 5 is deeply rooted in the Cultural Creatives mindset. Most of us reading AOC are Cultural Creatives and/or Smart Sensuality women.

The latter are women who are sexy and smart; focused on achievement; and possessed with deep empathy for people and our planet. Often they are modern values women [you just can’t be rich enough or wear enough stuff on your back] who have crossed over to a much more progressive-values way of thinking. We are not show horses.

I’ve called us “lipstick liberals”, which the AOC crowd might deride. But AOC the Congresswoman has herself perfected the pouty red mouth.

Looking at Hearst’s Diego Gravinese painting Fractalia 5 brings other trailblazing women in this mold to mind, women we’ve written about for years at AOC. Think Beyonce, Amal Clooney, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lopez: They are all women who smash through the fractal panes of imaginary glass that keep them in check.

In a moment of serendipidity, I searched for information about the rings they wore. Among women I admire deeply, one shape — the emerald cut — emerges like a phoenix rising out of the ashes.

Chopard's Caroline Scheufele Will Bring Zambia's 'Insofu' Emerald to a Life of Luxury

Chopard's Caroline Scheufele Will Bring Zambia's 'Insofu' Emerald to a Life of Luxury AOC Jewelry News

The Chopard ‘Insofu’ Emerald weighs in the size of a champagne bottle. It’s named for elephants in Zambia’s Bantu language.

“The size and quality of the crystal make it a rare find indeed,” stated Sean Gilbertson, director of Gemfields, noting that it was also “setting a historic milestone for traceability back to the mine-of-origin, a holy grail for consumers” seeking reassurances on the credentials of their stones as it is the first emerald of this size and purity to meet traceability requirements.

“By purchasing a raw stone, we are able to follow its entire journey through to final creation. Chopard will cut the raw emerald and collect all the cut gems emerging from it….We ensure a complete chain of traceability, which is rare for [such] stones,” said Chopard’s copresident and artistic director Caroline Scheufele who noted that a “fully integrated supply chain” was what made “these treasures of nature so valuable to our clientele,” who despite the COVID-19 pandemic had shown “strong resilience and loyalty” to the house.

AOC has followed Chopard’s Caroline Scheufele for years, and we value deeply her leadership mission in the arena of sustainability, workers rights, and transparency of Chopard stones from discovery to individual ownership. Scheufele recalled her feeling at the discovery of the Insofu emerald as “surpassing any emotion [she] had ever known.”

Elsa Hosk in Logan Hollowell Jewelry Valentine's Day Ads by Zoey Grossman

Elsa Hosk Channels Logan Hollowell Pink Sapphires and Red Rubies Ethical Energy AOC Fashion

Top model Elsa Hosk feels the Logan Hollowell energy vibe, lighting up skin and soul with pink sapphires and red rubies captured by Zoey Grossman. Logan Hollowell Jewelry designs are inspired by the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air.

Kendall Jenner Fronts 2022 Messika Jewelry Campaign Lensed by Chris Colls

Kendall Jenner Fronts Spring 2022 Messika Jewelry Campaign AOC Jewelry News

Valerié Messika, founder of Messika, picked Kendall Jenner as the face of its new 2022 campaign. Photographer Chris Colls [IG] joins Messika and Jenner in St. Tropez the south of France.

“I wanted to illustrate a subtle alliance between grace and strength and capture an image of an alpha woman with a mysterious and hypnotic aura ; Kendall perfectly embodied that for me,” Valérie Messika explains.

Rawdah Mohammed in Vogue X Cartier for Vogue Arabia by Nima Benati

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Rawdah Mohammed in Vogue X Cartier for Vogue Arabia by Nima Benati AOC Fashion

In her role as Norwegian fashion editor for the new Vogue Scandinavia, model Rawdah Mohamed is appearing frequently as a model for the magazine and online at Vogue Scandinavia. In May AOC featured Mohamed as an ambassador for Cartier, representing the brand in Denmark.

Today we share new images of Rawdah Mohamed in a Vogue X Cartier collab for Vogue Arabia. Gaia Fraschini styles the multifaceted model in images by Nima Benati [IG] for the September 2021 issue.

Studying these women is a fascinating example of “new thinking” around creatives and talents, media and luxury brands. Old-fashioned lines of "‘ethical’ demarcation are definitely blurring.

Benati’s IG is filled with images of her toasting Moet & Chandon, with whom she has worked since 2017, at the Venice Film Festival. “I adore you!” she exclaims about her LVMH client, raising her glass from her boat in the canals of Venezia.

On the sustainability front, Cartier’s chief executive Cyrille Vigneron recently interviewed with BOF on the subject of sustainability and also lab-grown diamonds.

For decades consumers assumed brands and retailers did the right thing, the CEO explained and “that was enough”. In the digital age, brands and retailers cannot make unsubstantiated claims about their sustainability initiatives. “When it comes to the environment, you must express your intentions and show that you “walk the talk,” Vigneron said.

We believe that as brands, models, image-makers, editors and magazines become one contiguous cast of interlinking characters, each will inherit the other’s DNA. AOC has never been judgmental about these business decisions, but we will explore them always as part of our own editorial policy.

In July, WWD featured an article on parent company Richemont and its brands — including Cartier — stipulating that the company has fully embraced a “green growth” agenda. Preparing to release its July 2021 report “Movement for Better Luxury”, Richemont stated that for the first time in the 15 years, it has asked EY to audit its processes, progress and adherence to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development, and other goals.

On this topic, AOC likes to think we may have influenced this decision, being positively critical of Cartier’s sustainability reporting. In May 2020, we wrote:

Model Vivien Solari is styled by Sam Ranger in simple elegance accented by ‘Panthere de Cartier’ luxury jewelry. Photographer Charlotte Hadden is in the studio for Exit Magazine’s Spring-Summer 2020 issue.

Looking for more information on Cartier’s sustainability practices, it strikes me as being more vague than those of Tiffany and Chopard. Here is Tiffany & Co. 2017 Sustainability Report. — all 100 pages. And this fall 2019 link takes us to a detailed overview of all Tiffany & Co. sustainability practices and global initiatives.

Working off the Cartier resources website, this simple list of very general Sustainable Development goals appears, when I request the output of Cartier’s sustainability strategy in report form. One must never draw any conclusions between a 100 page sustainability report from Tiffany and a 1 page report from Cartier. This link from the US Cartier website highlights the brand’s philanthropy efforts, particularly with women.

The content is heavy on culture generally but I don’t see any public discussion of Cartier’s sustainability efforts. If I have missed the sustainability discussion — including the rights of workers — on this page, I sincerely apologize. There’s no time to click every link in the website.

We agree 500% that Cartier via Richemont is doing a fantastically better job at embracing publicly and subjecting itself to credentialed scrutiny on the topic of sustainability in 2021.

AOC has done our job well, too. ~ Anne