Flashy engagement rings have long been a staple among celebrities, but in 2025 the trend has reached dazzling new heights. From Cristiano Ronaldo’s jaw-dropping proposal to Georgina Rodríguez with a diamond so large it nearly eclipsed her finger, to Taylor Swift’s romantic announcement with a vintage-inspired sparkler, the world’s A-listers seem locked in a contest of carat supremacy. These rings aren’t just accessories—they’re statements, symbols, and, for many, a window into the shifting values and aesthetics of celebrity culture.
In August 2025, Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo proposed to his longtime partner Georgina Rodríguez with an oval diamond engagement ring estimated to weigh between 25 and 35 carats. According to CNN, the gem is so massive it covers half of Rodríguez’s knuckle, immediately igniting a flurry of online debate about its sheer size and opulence. The ring’s estimated value? A cool $5 million. It’s not alone in the spotlight. Just a few weeks prior, Lauren Sánchez Bezos unveiled her own rare pink diamond ring at a wedding party in Venice. Whisked across the canals, Sánchez Bezos’ stone—valued between $3 million and $5 million and clocking in around 30 carats—drew gasps and headlines alike.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift—never far from the cultural conversation—joined the ranks of the newly engaged with a ring that, while more modest by comparison, still turned heads. The 35-year-old singer announced her engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce on Instagram, writing, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” The close-up revealed a mine-cut antique diamond, cushion-cut and oval, set on a yellow gold band. Jewelry experts estimate the stone’s weight between 7 and 10 carats, with a price tag that could reach £1.2 million. Designed by Kindred Lubeck of Artifex Fine, the ring exudes vintage glamour and, according to Garret Weldon of the Irish Antique Dealers Association, may date back to the 18th or early 19th century. “This isn’t somebody who just went into the shop and said ‘I want the biggest diamond,’” Weldon told CNN. “It’s one of the rarest stones you can get.”
But what explains this explosion in engagement ring size? Experts point to a confluence of factors—celebrity influence, technological advances, and the omnipresence of social media. Charlie Boyd, digital jewelry and watches editor at Harper Bazaar Arabia, notes that “big stones have always conveyed status, romance, excess.” In the past, only royalty could afford such extravagance. Now, thanks to the rise of tech moguls, sports icons, and global celebrities, the world’s wealthiest can flaunt their fortunes in new and highly visible ways. “We have a completely different economic landscape,” Boyd said. And with Instagram and other platforms, these gems are no longer private treasures—they’re instant viral sensations. “Our societal rituals around proposals have really changed because of social media. It’s extremely rare now that a couple gets engaged and there isn’t a ‘ring shot,’ often posted across multiple platforms.”
Technology, too, has played a role. As Boyd explains, “Now, if a jeweler or a diamantaire obtains a large rough, you are then assessing that stone digitally. You can cut the stone to give the biggest yield.” This means that the once painstaking, hand-cut process can now deliver larger and more spectacular results with greater precision and less waste. The result? Stones that would have been unimaginable a century ago are now gracing the fingers of the world’s elite.
Yet this trend is not without its quirks and complications. As Weldon points out, while Swift’s ring is “a very wearable size,” some of these supersized sparklers border on the impractical. “Is she getting in and out of the car? Is she trying to find something at the bottom of her purse? And is this ring so large that it’s actually going to obstruct and hinder that?” he mused. The average engagement ring in the US hovers around 1 carat, according to wedding planning service The Knot, making these celebrity stones ten, twenty, or even thirty times the norm. For comparison, Zendaya’s ring is estimated at half Swift’s size, while Charli XCX’s is a mere fraction.
The aesthetic itself is evolving. “There are only so many ways you can safely and elegantly display a very large stone in a ring context,” Weldon said. Boyd calls it a “flash-first aesthetic”—a style where the diamond dominates, set on a minimal metal band (often platinum or yellow gold) to maximize the stone’s visibility and sparkle. “Minimal metal means the more you see your diamonds, the more light goes into the stone,” Boyd explained, “making it look even bigger.”
This year’s trend marks a sharp turn from the ‘quiet luxury’ of the early 2020s, when celebrities sought more discreet or unconventional engagement rings—think Emma Stone’s vintage pearl ring. According to The Telegraph, the pandemic era and the rise of shows like Succession fueled a desire for understated elegance and relatability. Public displays of wealth, especially online, were toned down after high-profile incidents like Kim Kardashian’s 2016 robbery. But as the world’s mood shifted, so too did celebrity bling. Trend forecaster Sean Monahan described the current climate as “boom boom culture,” characterized by “a pure expression of excess.” This is reflected not just in jewelry, but in everything from fashion to public personas.
Not everyone sees the trend as mere wealth flaunting. Maddy Sangster, founder of Heavenly London, argues that Swift’s choice is “more about spectacle and storytelling, rather than displays of wealth.” She points to a resurgence of old Hollywood glamour and nostalgia, where “big romantic proposals with big beautiful diamonds” are as much about the theatre of romance as the stone itself. Grace O’Neill, co-host of the After Work Drinks podcast, adds that Swift’s public persona—a blend of girl-next-door and global superstar—makes her choice feel both authentic and aspirational. “She is rarely seen in head-to-toe designer in the way 99 percent of celebrities are… it feels ‘authentic’ or honest, more than the flagrant wealth flaunting we’re used to seeing on the internet by celebrities.”
The US, it seems, is leading the charge in this new era of megawatt rings. “Super sized sparklers are definitely more of a US thing, Americans have always loved their diamonds big and bold, with the average ring over a carat,” Sangster told The Telegraph. In the UK and Europe, by contrast, restraint still reigns, with average stones closer to half a carat. That might explain why, when Swift or Ronaldo unveil their XL gems, it feels almost cinematic—like celebrity theatre played out on a ring finger.
But with size comes new dilemmas. Will these rings become too cumbersome for daily wear? Will they end up locked away, admired only in private? And as “diamond shrinkage syndrome” sets in—the phenomenon where a stone seems smaller over time—will even larger gems soon become the new normal?
For now, one thing is clear: in 2025, the engagement ring is more than a symbol of love. It’s a canvas for storytelling, a flashbulb moment, and, for better or worse, a sign of the times.
