A few weeks ago, I started this Disney Princess engagement ring series with my picks for engagement rings worthy of fictional Disney Princesses Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Mulan, and Aurora. It was too fun to stop with just five, so I kept right on going.
Here is Part II, with my picks for Belle, Snow White, Esmerelda, Tiana, and Rapunzel.
(Image via Belle’s Bookshelf.)
Belle is my favorite Disney Princess; no other lady holds a candle to her. Not only is she a sassy and fabulous representative of Team Brunette, she loves books! And she’s a documented re-reader, much like yours truly. (“I’ll borrow…that one!” “But you’ve read it twice!”) Belle doesn’t really need a ring, since her Prince already gave her the best gift that anyone could hope for, but I wanted to find her one anyway.(Image via Belle’s Bookshelf.)
My pick for Belle is this 4.33 carat yellow diamond ring by Cartier. Classic and elegant, just like Belle herself. The center stone is a rectangular brilliant cut natural fancy intense yellow diamond, flanked on either side by white diamonds. Yellow diamonds aren’t usually my first choice, but this one is glorious and no one can deny that yellow is Belle’s color.
Once she’s married, I imagine Belle will wear just her wedding band most of the time and save her engagement ring for special occasions. She strikes me as sort of a hands-on Princess, and who can re-organize her library with a huge rock on her finger?
The De Beers Adonis rose band in platinum gives me the rose tie-in I wanted for Belle without making library maintenance impossible. It’ll look wonderful with her engagement ring or on its own, and it’s a reference to the rose as an important symbol of her story without being overly on-the-nose. The plentiful tiny diamonds will give this band sparkle worthy of a Princess.
(Image via Fanpop.)Sure, Esmerelda’s not technically a Princess – but she’s a fabulous, feisty heroine and she deserves a ring too. I don’t actually remember her movie very well, but I know she dances like a diva and stands up for herself and her friends. She also definitely loves gold – even her goat has a gold earring.
My pick for Esemerelda is the Erica Courtney “Ellen” ring. It’s bold and feminine, just like Esmerelda. Bonus: the design on the side actually forms a cursive “E.” The one pictured here is in rose gold, but I think Esmerelda would probably prefer high-karat yellow gold to match the rest of her jewelry.
(Image via Kniggit.)Good old Snow White. I don’t have strong feelings about Snow White, although I do enjoy her affinity for woodland creatures and I think she played herself better than Kristen Stewart did.
My pick for Snow White is Art Deco Cartier, so it’s very Princess-worthy. Aren’t the colors amazing? It features a 5.50 carat a European-cut fancy intense yellow diamond flanked on either side by shield-cut sapphires weighing a total of 1.20 carats.
I think the connection here is pretty obvious: the yellow diamond with blue sapphires is a perfect match for Snow White’s favorite (or only) outfit. A Disney Princess engagement ring must be an appropriate color!
Tiana came too late for me to admire her in my personal golden age of Princesses (before age 20) but I’m still fond of her. Her movie has fabulous music and her domain includes beignets; what’s not to love?
I chose Van Cleef & Arpels’ Arbre aux Songes ring for Tiana. It features a glorious, majestically-hued tourmaline in a setting embellished diamond-studded leaves. I think the bayou-esque color scheme and foliate setting would be a lovely reference to how she and her prince met and fell in love.
(Image via Disney.)
If you missed Part I of my Disney Princess engagement ring series, you can click here to catch up. What do you think of this round of picks? Did I miss anyone you were hoping to see?
All images and info in this post are thanks to the original source for each item – please see individual Disney Princess engagement ring descriptions for source links.
Belle Epoque diamond and ruby plaque-de-cou.
I’ve got some May flowers for you right here!
This is a ruby and diamond plaque-de-cou from 1905. A plaque-de-cou was a variation of the “collier de chien” that was popular in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. If you took as much high school French as I did, you might be sitting there scratching your head and thinking, “seriously? They put these on DOGS?”
Sadly for the dogs, they didn’t. Collier de chien (or “dog collar”) was just what choker-style necklaces were called. A plaque-de-cou is a collier de chien featuring a large rectangular or square plaque suspended on a ribbon or strands of pearls. (Source.)
This one is particularly ornate. The center of the design is an elaborate openwork basket full of flowers, suspended from the diamond-studded bow at the top of the plaque. The basket is also set with rose diamonds and accented with calibré-cut rubies.
The basket full of flowers is within a frame of ribbon, bow and floral swag design similarly set with rose-cut diamonds. A pear-shaped diamond drop dangles from the bottom of the plaque. The plaque is suspended on a wide moiré silk ribbon.
This lovely piece was listed in Sotheby’s December 2012 Fine Jewels auction. All images and info are thanks to Sotheby’s.
19th century gold and pink topaz earrings.
Everyone here knows I love the subtlety and clean lines of Art Deco design. I also sometimes love things that are the opposite of that. For example:
These are fabulous. There’s nothing restrained, simple, or geometric about them. They’re a riot of enthusiastic embellishment. I think they’re great.
These babies are English, circa 1820. They’re made from cannetille gold, which is a term that I just learned. Cannetille is a metal openwork design similar to filigree; it was very popular in the 1820’s and 1830’s, when these earrings were made. You can see in these earrings the tendrils, scrolls, coils and granulation typical of cannetille.
These cannetille gold earrings are embellished with small white chrysolites and a number of large pink topaz stones; two oval cut stones above an three oblong stones suspended below.
I’m a lady with lots of thick, dark, wavy hair – it’s hard to find a pair of earrings to stand up to my mane. I’m pretty sure these would do the trick, though.
These Georgian earrings are currently for sale at S.J. Phillps. All images and info are thanks to S.J. Phillips.