Shape Wear

Sparkle was once all we wanted from diamonds. Now, as our jewelry collections become more playful and less pretentious, we are willing to sacrifice a little of that round-brilliant dazzle for a quirky shape.

Cutting has always been at the heart of diamond jewelry, and while pears, princesses and their peers have long drawn admirers, there is a push for shapes with less-marked dance cards. Even the baguette — the go-to contemporary cut of recent years — is proving more fashionable as an asymmetric, tapered version of itself.

Other statement-diamond oddities finding their way into new collections include half-moon cuts, which Texas-based jewelry designer Nak Armstrong describes as “modern, Deco and romantic all at the same time…. [They] remind me of scalloped collars and hemlines.”

Kite cuts are also flying high, both as accents and main stones, while trillions and shield cuts lend a similarly tough, geometric edge to jewels.

Best of all are creations that bring together a collection of multiple shapes in a single piece, like Manpriya B’s Dangling Diamond Fantasy Cut necklace. With 21 diamonds in a smorgasbord of hard-to-find fancy cuts, it serves as a traveling gallery of alternative diamond styles.