Gemstones
Shape & Character
The first thing anyone notices, and the one thing you cannot change later.
Shape decides more than looks. It sets how large a stone reads for its weight, how it sits against a finger or a collarbone, and how forgiving it will be about the color and clarity you paid for. Below is what each of the shapes in our collection is actually good at — and, where it matters, what it will not hide.
Round Brilliant
Fifty-eight facets, refined over a century for one purpose: returning light. Nothing sparkles harder, and all that motion also hides faint color and small inclusions better than any other shape. It is the most-cut shape in the world and priced accordingly — you are paying a premium for certainty.
Shop roundPrincess
A square face with sharp corners, cut from the rough with far less waste than a round — which is why it usually costs less per carat for comparable grades. Modern and architectural. Those four corners are the vulnerable part, so a setting that shields them is worth having.
Shop princess cutOval
Round brilliance, drawn out. More of the stone sits on the surface, so an oval reads larger than a round of the same weight and lengthens the finger while it is at it. One thing to look for: a faint dark band across the center, called a bow-tie, which varies from stone to stone.
Shop ovalCushion
Rounded corners and larger facets, which give a softer, warmer fire than the crisp flash of a round — antique in spirit. Those bigger facets are also broader windows, so color shows through more readily. It is the shape most worth spending a grade higher on.
Shop cushion cutEmerald
A step cut — long parallel facets instead of the triangular ones that make a stone glitter. It does not dazzle so much as flash, like light down a hall of mirrors. There is nowhere for an inclusion to hide in an open table like this, so clarity matters here more than in any other shape.
Shop emerald cutPear
A teardrop: brilliant at the rounded end, elongating toward the point. It is at its best hanging — as a pendant or a drop earring, where gravity does the styling for you. On a ring, look for a setting that caps the point, which is the part that chips.
Marquise
Elongated, with a point at each end. A marquise carries its weight across the surface rather than down into the setting, so it looks larger than its carat figure suggests and lengthens the finger more than any other shape here. It is the least neutral choice on this page, which is precisely the appeal.
Shop by shape
Found your shape?
Rings grouped by the cut of the center stone.
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