Given her status as a style icon, it's no surprise that Jackie Kennedy's stunning engagement ring has been an inspiration for countless brides over the years.
The Toi Et Moi design by French jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels included a 2.88-carat diamond and a 2.84-carat emerald. Both in an emerald cut, set on a bezel set emerald and diamond baguette cut bezel.
Toi Et Moi translates as “you and me” and includes two gemstones placed next to each other.
So it has been very popular lately. So Ariana Grande, Kylie Jenner and Megan Fox are wearing the romantic design. But the style has actually been around for centuries. Napoleon Bonaparte proposed to Josephine de Beauharnais in one in 1796.
Rather unusually, Jackie was not photographed wearing a ring when the couple's engagement was first announced in 1953. According to author Jay Mulvaney, she told reporters at the time, “I don't have a ring yet. Jack and I have looked at dozens of them. Some I didn't like and others weren't the right type.”.
In the end it was actually her future father-in-law, Joseph Kennedy, who chose the ring. The selection was from the Van Cleef & Arpels store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Edward Klein of Vanity Fair described how jeweller Louis Arpels' wife Hélène, who knew Jackie, helped the former ambassador to the UK choose the now famous engagement ring.
Not afraid to put her own stamp on the design, the First Lady actually redesigned the piece almost a decade after their marriage. So she replaced the baguettes with fancier marquise-cut diamonds, which ended in round-cut diamonds on the side.
“The new ring signalled Jackie's growing confidence personally. But also her family's role on the world stage.” That's what British Vogue's jewellery director Rachel Garrahan has to say about the updated design.
Of course, the Toi Et Moi ring was not the only famous piece that belonged to Jackie. On her subsequent engagement to Aristotle Onassis, the financier gave her a huge diamond ring. The 40-carat Lesotho III ring by Harry Winston. This ring. was sold at auction for $2.6 million (£2.25 million) in 1996.
Meanwhile, it was Kennedy's so-called “swimming ring” that was the inspiration for her bride Caroline Bessette-Kennedy's diamond and sapphire engagement ring.
However, Jackie's emerald and diamond engagement ring remains one of the most famous in history. “Few women in the 20th century were more influential on style than Jackie Kennedy,” Garrahan concludes. “Her engagement ring from JFK captured the pure, timeless elegance that would forever define her.”.
