Every engagement and wedding season brings a new trend of wedding bands designs. A wedding forum interviewed eClarity Gemologist Amanda Koo to share her predictions and recommendation for the most popular wedding bands trends she expects to see in the coming year. Sharing with you the interview questions and answers.
What is your take on wedding band trends in 2020/21 and how do they differ from wedding band styles of previous years?
In previous years, engaged couples had preference for bold colour combinations. Classic color combinations are white, rose and white. Last year, we saw more couples opting for black and rose, champagne and pink. eClarity always make sure that the alloy of gold displays original colour tone in the highest gold content, namely 18k with composites of 75% of pure gold content. For yellow gold, the gold content can go higher to 20k (83%), 22k (91.6%), or even 24k (99.9%).
In 2020, we have seen many couples going back to simple romantic pure and glossy white bands, with added fine and sophisticated Victorian details on the sides, like milgrains and carvings. Many engrave the couples’ own fingerprints, handwritings, or customised messages in unique font types within the rings too.
In 2021, we expect wedding band trends to emerge on higher level of customisation, with mounted gemstones or birthstones, sound waves carvings (recording each other voices and imprint sound waves into wedding bands). Couples will be more persistent to have wedding bands that symbolize their love in a unique and personalized way.
What designs/shapes/stones are or will be getting more popular in 2020/21?
For engagement rings and wedding bands, the trend will move towards antique colors, shapes, and designs.
Antique colour like champagne, in 18k gold, is unique, high in purity and it lasts forever. It doesn’t warm the colour of central diamond like rose gold ring settings do, and it is more unique than yellow gold setting. It is classy, elegant, and matches beautifully with Singaporeans’ skin tone. There is also great curiosity in black quoted gold, black diamonds and other fancy coloured stones.
Antique finishing presents a natural and intense vibe, especially when they are handcrafted by our master craftsmen. The unique texture and subtle elegance ensure the bespoke wedding bands is unique, as the finishing of each piece is personally handcrafted, and therefore inimitable.
Are there any classic designs that make it into your prediction of wedding band trends for 2020/21?
Yes, simple and graceful braided and intertwining wedding bands, and “eternity rings” mounted with full or half circle of diamonds or gemstones, are classic and yet timeless.
The fine curve has a slimming effect on the finger, while preserving the symbolic meaning of the wedding ring as a never-ending circle, signifying eternal love. The intertwining on the bands also represents the entwining and weaving of 2 lovers.
The continuous array of diamonds on “eternity rings” are a perpetual expression of love. While some like it classic with diamonds, we also create bespoke pieces in full or alternate gemstones and diamonds, different sizes, shapes of stones, or with slight tweak to the ring shapes, like V shape or U shape. These rings can be given by the husband to the wife for wedding, or on a significant occasion, such as an anniversary gift, push gifts, or other celebrations.
Why do you think these classic designs still appeal to today’s couples?
Jewellery is timeless. Classic designs with slight finetuning to incorporate the contemporary with traditional customs, always appeal to couples, as they are classy and elegant. They also epitomize the love of the couple embarking on a journey together, embracing their past, present, and future.
How do you incorporate these new wedding band trends into your designs?
eClarity maintains more than 500 designs of wedding band in store for couples to view, fit, and customize. We continue to observe preferences and create bespoke pieces to lead the wedding bands designs in Singapore and the region. The launch of new series always considered different stones, colours, finishing, broadness, and fitting.
What do you think couples today are looking for in their wedding bands?
I think more couples today are more active than ever! As mentioned earlier, they are looking for personalization and simplicity in their wedding bands. They want something that is suitable for everyday use, goes with their outfits and other accessories, but at the same time, rings that are exclusively theirs.
They are also looking for rings that are easy to maintain, without too much trouble on their part, thus eClarity provides lifetime annual “jewellery spa” for all eClarity members, a complimentary service that our production team mates professionally clean and check the jewellery under microscopes.
New interests like sustainability, and cleanliness in this Covid time has also sparked interest on labgrown diamonds and classic design. There are also greater interests to incorporate coloured gemstones like sapphire, emerald, ruby, peridot, aquamarine into wedding bands.
Recommend some pieces from eClarity’s range of wedding bands that are in line with the wedding band trends in 2020/21.
Do you have any tips for couples choosing their weddings bands? What should they look out for and what should they consider before making a decision?
Having 17 years of privilege holding dialogues and consultations with couples, couples tend to have different questions based on their personalities and lifestyles. My team continues to arrange couples who like to meet me for queries into instore/online appointment, or webinars.
I conduct webinars sharing in-depth information and answering questions on different topics every week. “How to Customize Wedding Bands?” is scheduled for every second Tuesday at 6pm-7pm and 9pm-10pm. Couples should register and attend non-obligatory talks by professionals to understand their needs better. This webinar covers all the details about alloy of gold, finishes, mounting of stones, broadness, fittings, quality of stones and other customs and FAQ. Couples can also prepare a list of questions they have before the talks. To register, visit eClarity.com.sg/register-for-webinars. To enquire for more details, couples can send a message to 98331220.