Jennifer Fisher, the jewelry designer behind the eponymous brand and her omnipresent sculptural hoops, has increasingly incorporated lab-grown diamonds into her designs. She echoes the sentiment I’ve been hearing again and again: “It’s not about affording a mined diamond; it’s about choosing not to buy into the old narratives. More women are realizing that lab-grown isn’t a downgrade—it’s just smart.”
Fisher and I swap stories of women who wear lab-grown rings proudly. Take Hannah Bronfman, whose husband surprised her with a second engagement ring years after their wedding. “He felt he was in a completely different place than when he first proposed to me,” she says in a TikTok, “and he wanted something that reflected where we are now.” And then there’s PR exec Arielle Patrick, who went the custom route with C1V1L Jewelry, documenting the process of designing her lab-grown engagement ring.
I hear all this, and it’s compelling—but I can’t help asking the question no one wants to say out loud: Worst case scenario, don’t you want to be able to sell your ring after the divorce? I save this inquiry for my divorced friend, the only person I trust to answer it honestly.
“I’m going lab-grown all the way,” she tells me flatly. “That is, if I get married again.” After her first marriage ended, she tried selling her 3.5 carat mined diamond engagement ring—only to be met with a pitiful offer. “I’m talking pennies on the dollar,” she says, reminding me that, like a car driven off the lot, a diamond is a depreciating asset. “You’re going to lose money—might as well lose less.”
She’s resolute, and the data backs her up: Since its peak in 2022, the average price per carat for mined diamonds has dropped by roughly 26%. Meaning the ring I was proposed to with just two years ago? It’s now worth considerably less. For the same price, I could have had a bigger diamond—and kept a chunk of change.
So what does this mean for big diamonds? Not Big Diamond, the industry, but big diamonds, as in carats? If five-carat rocks are no longer financially out of reach, does bigger is better still hold up? If everyone has a big rock, do you still want one?
Sailer Van Lith doesn’t think size will be the next status symbol. “I’ve always appreciated when people choose a piece of jewelry—especially an engagement ring—that just suits them,” she says. La Pietra, the brand she co-founded, isn’t about bigger stones for less money; it’s about craftsmanship and taste. “I always notice when women who could have something massive go for something small and elegant instead. There’s something really chic about that.”
