Gold Jewelry

[willowtree99]

One thing I've noticed over the last few decades is fewer women wearing gold jewelry.

Im not talking high fashion, celebs and catwalk, but ordinary people.

All the women I knew of my granny's age always wore chunky wedding rings, engagement and other dress rings as well as solid earrings, young women would have gold necklaces and earring as gifts for special birthdays.

Now the fashion for wedding rings is slim, you rarely see women in public wearing gold.

Is it a trend thing, that gold is old fashioned/crass, a safety thing where women are worried about wearing valuables in public, a finances thing that gold is more expensive now and money is tighter?

Or am I just in different circles and gold is as popular as ever?

Yabu - gold is as popular as ever
Yanbu - I've noticed this too.

Maybe there is a trend for people to wear less jewellery in general, as it can obviously look cheap and tacky if overdone. Not sure about the colours though, I would have thought it was about 50/50 as to what colours suited certain skin tones. Silver colour is definitely more popular at the moment, but probably some are wearing it who would look better in gold.

I’ve only just recently started wearing gold (I’m 61). I always thought I just didn’t like it and all my jewellery thus far has been platinum.

The change came last year when I was gifted a gold bracelet…I felt obliged to wear it as it was given in love, and actually fell in love with it! I realised that gold suited my colouring so much better than the silvery colour of platinum, and I’ve now invested in a couple of gold rings and earrings. My platinum is now sitting in a box (and will be passed on to my children ‘eventually’ I’m sure ☠️🤣).

I think most millennials choose platinum for their engagement and wedding rings.

How would you describe your colouring, out of interest?

I like gold but it’s expensive, and I’m not interested in buying gold plated, I want something that will last.

I have a couple of gold necklaces and pendants but I’m very aware of how much they are worth, so try and remember to tuck them into my clothing out of sight when in my local area or on the tube, so don’t wear them much as it’s a faff.

It’s very hard to say as diamonds have a few variables when it comes to pricing (the four Cs) but I’d go for *pre loved every time - more bang for your buck. I’m not a fan of clusters, particularly but then again, if it’s a gift I can get used to it! The main thing is that YOU love it at the end of the day.

Coco Chanel discussed the difference between style and fashion. I am sure everyone can guess which she valued more.

Yellow gold has been in style for thousands of years.

I got engaged a few weeks ago and my engagement ring was 18k yellow gold with a solitare. I've always wanted a gold engagement ring and wedding band. But, all of my friends who have got engaged in the last 5-10 years all have silver jewellery. Gold is seen as old fashioned but I think it's timeless.

I wanted yellow gold wedding rings, I don't like white gold and the constant need to have it re-dipped would annoy me, and platinum at the time was really expensive. I have my engagement ring, wedding ring and eternity ring all in yellow gold, but all my other jewellery is silver lol

The young ones are into more high class fashion jewellery. Like what Molly mae wears of the girls on made in Chelsea. Only thing is, that gold is mega expensive it’s Cartier or Van clef etc so you’re talking thousands. So people just get copies of them.

It is very much coming back. I see more and more young people wearing gold tones now.

In fact I just got a package back from the assay office this morning with 3 gold pendants and a wedding ring. I only work in gold on commission as it is now so expensive.

DD is getting married next year and her wedding ring will be 18ct yellow gold

My engagement and wedding rings are 18ct yellow gold.
I got engaged nearly 26 years ago and out of all my friends only one doesn’t have yellow gold. They have platinum.

over the last 5 years everyone I know who has got engaged has white gold for their rings.

As someone who works in the jewellery industry (not costume jewellery). Gold is actually currently really fashionable but mainly people wanting inexpensive gold plated jewellery. People that want to purchase high end, it’s always Platinum but diamonds are best set in Platinum. I couldn’t tell you the last time I sold an engagement ring set in yellow gold and I’m talking 10 years +.

@S251 That's interesting about people liking diamonds with platinum as I've never liked platinum rings at all. I much prefer gold - I thought it was just the claw setting itself that tended to be platinum because it is harder than gold.

No diamonds are always better set in Platinum. Yes, platinum is much harder wearing than gold, and much rarer making by far the superior metal. But mainly as the whiter the diamond the better and set in gold the colour reflects into the diamond and makes it look less white. I can literally count on one hand the yellow gold engagement rings I’ve sold in my career.

It's pretty common to set the diamonds in a platinum setting and then have a yellow gold band. It's one way of making diamonds look larger than they actually are as well as improving the colour. Nowadays, diamonds are much cheaper so larger stones are far more common. Platinum is also a harder metal than 18ct gold so resists wear better.

I've just resized a family heirloom for a modern bride which was made like that and I have several pieces of my own that I've inherited that are yellow gold with a platinum setting.

Gold used to be a type of insurance- it could always be sold if one needed money. Some women were given gold for this reason. This is still a common practise in some countries /cultures.

Ooh I wear gold. I didn't realise I was in the minority! Both my engagement ring and wedding ring are gold. I have a thin gold chain with a small pendant that I wear everyday and a thin gold bracelet. 3 piercings in each ear which are all gold (tiny earrings)
I never wear silver or white gold, it doesn't suit me.

I used to buy lots of jewellery however it’s gone up that much it’s not possible any more, plus trendier shops like Pandora seem to have taken over from proper old fashioned jewellery shops.

I think it’s a question of personal taste and cost. I inherited my granny’s engagement ring. It’s a trilogy ruby ring with 20 small diamonds as a halo. The band is 18ct gold, the diamonds are set in platinum. Hubby wanted to buy me an eternity ring to match… saw one I really liked, but it was all platinum. Contacted the jeweller to ask if it could be made in 18ct gold… they said absolutely, but it’s more expensive as yellow gold is currently more expensive than platinum! I’m lucky I’ve inherited a few special yellow gold pieces. Hubby and I couldn’t afford that sort of gift, even though our jobs in our parents/grandparents day would have a bigger salary than they did. Brings me back to the complaint that one wage used to be enough.. these days two wages aren’t enough to afford luxuries. Most of our friendship circle work extra hours or have a side hustle to meet the bills these days. Very envious of my mother who never had to work a day in her life. When, in the end, she went to work, it was purely to extend her friendship circle & to alleviate boredom when me & my siblings had grown up. I’m the only daughter though, so got all of her (gold) jewellery.

Yellow gold went through a phase when I was younger of being seen as chavvy and not on trend (2000-2010, it was heavily associated with massive clown necklaces on chains and big hoop earrings etc). Even my mum considered it tacky then, so it wasn’t just a youth culture thing.

I’ve always been someone who suited yellow gold so I’ve noticed the trends. White gold became the standard for wedding rings and other “long lasting” jewellery, and silver or rose gold were for fashion pieces. We bought my engagement ring in 2019 and even then yellow gold was vastly outnumbered by white gold options.

It was really hard to buy any “fashion jewellery” in yellow gold until about 5 years ago. Now it’s very common to find, but mostly it’s vermeil or gold-plated rather than solid gold. I don’t think personal safety or crime makes any difference, it’s purely a financial thing and simply that younger women wear less jewellery these days.

Yellow gold is tacky and chavy

My wedding engagement and eternity ring are all platinum as is my trilogy ring on my other hand

Amy necklace earrings or bracelet I have are all white gold or occasional silver but that tends to tarnish easily and looks awful

@EasterchickenYellow gold can be tacky or chavvy (the cheaper, mass market stuff), but it can also be really classy. I love the yellow gold trend of wearing lots of different lengths of chains. I also see lots of people wearing gold disc type necklaces. It can be very contemporary and I see lots of stylish types in London rocking yellow gold. I love it.

How interesting! I work in a jewellery shop (an independent) and we sell a lot of gold jewellery to all ages! I’d say most engagement rings I’ve sold are yellow gold with a platinum setting.

Have to admit, as non Brit. Never knew you people somehow mamaged to make yellow gold, loved and/or popular all over the world, "tacky and chavvy".
That's quite an art imho 😂