Given her status as a style icon, it’s no surprise that Jackie Kennedy’s dazzling engagement ring has inspired countless brides over the years. French jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels’ toi et moi design featured a 2.88-carat diamond and a 2.84-carat emerald, both emerald-cut, on a band of emeralds and baguette-cut diamonds.
Toi et moi – which translates to “you and me” and features two gemstones nestled side by side – has seen a resurgence in popularity lately, with the likes of Ariana Grande, Kylie Jenner and Megan Fox all sporting the romantic design . But the style actually dates back centuries, with Napoleon Bonaparte proposing Josephine de Beauharnais with one in 1796.
Rather unusually, Jackie was not photographed wearing a ring when the couple’s engagement was first announced in 1953. According to writer Jay Mulvaney, she told reporters at the time: “I don’t have not yet. Jack and I have reviewed dozens of them. Some I didn’t like and some were the wrong type.
In the end, it was actually her future father-in-law, Joseph Kennedy, who chose the ring from the Van Cleef & Arpels boutique on Fifth Avenue in New York. vanity lounge‘s Edward Klein described how the wife of jeweler Louis Arpels, Hélène, who knew Jackie, helped the former ambassador to the UK choose the now famous engagement ring.
Unafraid to put her own stamp on the design, the First Lady actually redesigned the piece nearly a decade after their marriage, replacing the baguettes with flashier marquise-cut diamonds that tapered into diamond-cut diamonds. round on the side. “The new ring made a statement and signaled Jackie’s growing self-confidence personally and in her family’s role on the world stage,” British said. vogueRachel Garrahan, director of jewelry at, talks about the improved design.
Of course, the you and me ring wasn’t the only influential piece that belonged to Jackie. During her subsequent engagement to Aristotle Onassis, the shipping magnate gave her a huge 40-carat Lesotho III diamond ring by Harry Winston, which sold at auction for $2.6 million ($2.25 million). pounds) in 1996. Meanwhile, it was the so-called ‘swimming ring’ that inspired stepdaughter Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s diamond and sapphire engagement ring.
Yet it’s Jackie’s emerald and diamond engagement ring that remains one of the most referenced in history. “Few women in the 20th century were more influential in terms of style than Jackie Kennedy,” concludes Garrahan. “Her JFK engagement ring captured the clean, timeless elegance that would forever define her.”
