Jewelry Designer Jean Dousset on 2026 Engagement Ring Trends and the Case for Lab-Grown Diamonds

0:10Bobby Schuessler:Welcome to the Who It Wear podcast, your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the ever-evolving world of fashion. I'm Who It Wear shopping director Bobby Schuessler, and today I'm joined by fine jewelry designer Jean Dousset. Jean is the great, great grandson of the legendary Louis Cartier, but he's best known for his own namesake brand and for crafting fabulous one-of-a-kind engagement rings for celebrities like Eva Longoria, Amy Adams, and the Paris Hilton. Jean joins us to discuss starting his own brand and why he prefers lab-grown diamonds over natural ones when creating custom pieces at an accessible price point.

0:53Bobby Schuessler:Plus, he gives us his engagement ring trend predictions for 2026, explains celebrity influence on jewelry trends, and shares his best tips for how to make your engagement ring unique if you're shopping for your special someone. It's all coming up on Who What Wear.

1:16Bobby Schuessler:John, welcome to the podcast. Well, thank you for having me. Of course. Just for the listeners, I met you a few weeks ago. I was in LA, had to come by the beautiful showroom, which we'll get to. And so I'm so excited to chat with you on here. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Nice to see you again. So to kick off, you are a descendant of Louis Cartier. So your history of high jewelry obviously precedes you. And I know you've never actually worked for Cartier, but I want to give listeners just a quick overview of how you found yourself still in the fine jewelry business, where you worked up until you launched your own label.

1:51Yes. It's interesting because by the time I was born, Cartier had been sold out of the family. So I wasn't raised crawling around the stores of Cartier or immersed in the whole epic story of Cartier. I just was sort of in the background, like more of a storytelling. And I wasn't destined from the get-go into the jewelry business. Nobody in my family is in any way, shape, or form. I just happened one day to receive an opportunity to interview for one of the famous French jewelry houses called Chaumet. Place Vendôme, the epicenter of jewelry. And then I walked in the space and I was immediately taken by the grandeur of the place, its historical dimension, the displays, the gemstones.

2:44I just knew this is where I'm supposed to be. And that was the start of my career.

2:49Bobby Schuessler:And then from there, I know you worked at other jewelry houses before launching your namesake line. Where else did you work? Yeah, I studied, you know, I learned diamonds, and then I went to spend some time in the workshops under the roofs where all the masters are crafting jewelry for some of the most famous names. So Chaumet, Boucheron, which you can now see a little bit more in the U.S., and then Van Cleef & Arpels. Van Cleef & Arpels was really, at the time, we were looking at it as the end-all be-all of quality, diamond selection, craftsmanship. It was just the finest of work. I was very lucky to really learn, be exposed, and absorb the way they make jewelry, the way they design it, and then also the way they approach the artisanship historically.

3:40So I've learned all of that from these prestigious houses. One of the biggest things that I took with me was really the way they interacted with customers. There was a ceremony around designing, presenting, unveiling jewelry that I thought was really captivating. Like when you describe luxury, this is what luxury looked like. You know, I started 30 years ago when I was a salesman. I had a big leather bound book where I wrote my sales with a fountain pen. That's how long ago I started in this business. That's how traditional it still was at the time. We would hand paint all the projects. So I was lucky because before I went on into my career, we were very much doing jewelry, selling, presenting, designing, executing the same way that my ancestors did.

4:36I got a window into the traditional way of doing jewelry and I love that. And I still want to bring all of that into the future for the modern consumer.

4:47Bobby Schuessler:So from there, you launched your namesake label and it quickly became a celebrity favorite. I know Eva Longoria, Amy Adams have worn your pieces. What was the process like for starting your own label? And did you anticipate it becoming so popular in the celebrity space? You know, I did not expect it. It's one thing to represent very big brands because they have so much clout already. But when you're on your own and your name at the beginning means nothing to anyone. Then you have to first build up the confidence to believe in your designs. And then nothing happens until consumers see what you do, adopt it.

5:27They are ultimately the arbiter, whether you are a designer or not. So you build the self-confidence little by little. And then luck has to play a part. I just happened to know Eva Longoria and her then boyfriend. Tony Parker. And they came to me for the ring. They gave me the opportunity of a lifetime because I hadn't done a lot of work. The body of my work wasn't really extensive yet. And so they gave me this incredible opportunity to give me the publicity. And if you think about my heritage, which always been in the background, I've never flaunted it at the beginning, but I did refer to my heritage as being what it is.

6:12You know, I'm a descendant of one of the most iconic jewelry designer, Louis Cartier. So that gave me sort of a little step up, you know, to gain a little bit of traction. And then I remember Amy Adams was doing Enchanted at the time. And her stylist referred me to her boyfriend and she called me and she said, he wants to make a ring and maybe you could help him. And then I made a ring for her. At the time, Amy Adams was just exploding. That was also really helpful because she picked a ring that was a very specific technique of mine called the seamless halo. And so that gave me the momentum. For the listeners, I also do want to share that I really started Jean Doucet from a blank sheet of paper in my house.

7:02This is what I want to do and I want to launch it. And I built it really one ring at a time. I can't help but look back, you know, 15 years of all the moments and the trial and errors of what it means to build your name, build a brand, build a voice, an aesthetic, which evolves over time. You know, I've really also come into my own as the years have gone by.

7:29Bobby Schuessler:I feel like that's a perfect jumping off segment. And we spoke about this when we were in person, but you did make this pivotal shift a few years ago to fully transitioning into lab grown diamonds. And I think there are a lot of misconceptions about lab grown diamonds and is it the same quality, brilliance, beauty. Can you just give our listeners just a quick rundown about why you decided to make that transition? What are the benefits? It's, I think you've said like a diamond is a diamond. And so what are your takes on that and that transition for you? Yeah, so I can consider myself a traditionalist.

8:07I've been in this industry, like I said, 30 years. And until lab-grown diamonds came to my attention, all that was available were natural diamonds. And I worked with them for the longest time. But I always thought that diamond prices were very high. and they forced people to constantly compromise. What is supposed to be a really enjoyable moment and purchase in one's life had a lot of tension to it. Like you can have that, but you can't have this. If you really want that carat weight because that number does make a difference, then I'm sorry, but maybe you can't have that color. And we were talking about trade-offs instead of talking about what people really want.

8:50So we were constantly telling people what they could have instead of what they really wanted to have. The first time I saw lab-grown diamonds, it was really a tech product. The real diamond industry was not yet involved. The diamonds were not really cut very well, so they didn't quite look like the natural diamonds I'm used to see. But fast forward a couple years, then I started seeing lab-grown diamonds cut like the best-looking diamonds I've seen and looked for my entire life. And they were also certified by the foremost authority in diamond grading, which was GIA. And GIA was saying, or here are two diamonds.

9:33One is lab, one is natural, but they were giving them the same scale of color, more or less white, the same clarity, like does it have inclusion or does it not? So they were grading the diamonds exactly the same way. The only distinction was the origin. And that, to me, changed everything. Because we are recognizing that these are two diamonds. They look the same. They behave the same. They just were created differently. That's it. And now the value proposition is so different that love-grown diamonds, to me, became irresistible. because now I could tell people you can actually have what you want.

10:22I'm not going to have to convince you that you need to buy a sub-quality diamond that you can't afford that's a little bit too small. You're going to be able to enjoy diamonds at a level of quality where they should be, which is white. They should look really white and clean looking when you look at them close up and have the size that you want at a price that is reasonable. So there's an entire resetting of the scale that makes diamond jewelry with lab still very much a luxury product, thousands and thousands of dollars. But the price is now more linear. It's not exponential. Remember that a natural diamond could cost at one carat$5 ,000 and at five carats$300 ,000.

11:13You know, like to me, that answered something I had been looking for my entire career. I don't need to compromise anything I've ever believed in. And I'm going to be able to give consumers exactly what they want. And I'm also going to be able to design the rings exactly the way I would like them to look. When you use a small diamond, you have to make everything very narrow, very small. The metal doesn't really expand. The ring doesn't really take all of its design. Just looks like a small stone trapped into a lot of metal. But as soon as the diamond expands, you can expand everything else with it.

11:53Bobby Schuessler:So it's creative freedom and then commercial freedom for consumers. And that's not even considering that I think as a society, we're less and less inclined to ding into the earth, to extract from the earth. especially for something that isn't along the lines of vanity and accessory. I don't think this is where we're going. I don't think that's the natural path that we are on. So if you put it all together, it just makes sense across the board. I'm simply leaning into what I believe is the future for all of us. It's fascinating how the design process and production process compare. That's so interesting to me.

12:36Bobby Schuessler:And the fact that the customer base has expanded, I'm sure, exponentially because more people can afford to do the custom dream ring that they want or whatever piece it is. I think that the diamond prices used to be so high that they were prohibiting you from actually exploring working with a designer brand because you just couldn't do it all. And there are levels to lab-grown diamonds. You can grow a diamond very, very, very quickly, and you're going to have a poor result. A diamond that could be opaque, lackluster. Or you can grow diamonds and give them the time to really go through the phases of growth and produce gem-quality diamonds.

13:23So I encourage people who are discovering lab-grown diamonds to be careful when the price is too low to be true, because there is such a thing. and also see it for yourself. Like it's important to see what it is that you're buying. And that's why we're expanding our retail network on that we want to open more stores because once you see a light diamonds, you convert yourself immediately because you realize, oh yeah, it's just magnificent, beautiful. And then it also gives you a sense of what it should look like. And that comparison is a good idea.

13:58Bobby Schuessler:You just opened your flagship store in New York City. What can listeners expect going into that space as well as in LA too? When I started, the salons of jewelry houses were intimate, carpet everywhere. It feels like luxury, but the idea of the showroom of New York draws from that memory of mine that I want to bring back. I think that this experience of buying fine jewelry and diamonds should be in an environment that feels sort of quiet, where you can actually relax, when you can focus on the moment. Like the tone of colors that we use, we sort of recreated a Parisian apartment in New York City.

14:44We bought some French antiques that we brought into the decor as well. There's molding on the walls, like all these sort of French Parisian architectural details are present. We use a designer from France to do the showroom. And the idea is to have people have that experience of a one-on-one where all the attention is on you. There's no distractions. There's no interruptions. We're just spending time together, us and you. I like the idea of going back in time a little bit in terms of the atmosphere. That's what I was looking for.

15:21Bobby Schuessler:I can't wait to see it. Okay. So I want to segue a little bit into engagement rings. Obviously, we keep a close eye on celebrity fashion at Who Aware, including engagement rings. So for example, you know, Sophia Ritchie Grange's wedding and her emerald cut, I think it was like six carat ring and Selena Gomez's ring. And of course, Taylor Swift's vintage inspired cushion cut diamond. I'd love to hear your perspective of how do these celebrity design choices impact the industry trends or do people come in wanting to custom design a ring that's similar to like a celebrity ring or how does that look like in your space?

15:58I think for the designer who makes the celebrity engagement ring, it's one of the biggest moments of your career, obviously, because all of a sudden you wake up one morning and then your name is everywhere. And as a designer, there's nothing more rewarding. And the truth is that there are four or five main diamond shapes that have been with us historically. Round, oval, cushion, pear, emerald cut. The rest are a little bit more modern, radiant, and princess. And what happens really with consumers is that these five shapes, they come and go and rotate. That's the real trend. These celebrity rings, everybody pays attention to them.

16:42Everybody thinks about them, but it doesn't necessarily shift the market instantly and significantly, simply because diamond is a very personal choice. And I would say women do think about this for a long time, and they've had something in mind, maybe something their mother had, maybe something that they've seen in the press of just in general, a long sort of journey into discovering what you really like. And one celebrity ring or another is typically not going to get you off of that thought entirely, unless that celebrity picks one of those five shapes I described. Because, for example, Marquis is like football shaped, right?

17:30Very pointy on both ends. It's hard to wear and it's kind of hard to set. There's not many things that you can do with a marquee that you could do with other rings. So the engagement ring in particular is that one piece of jewelry that typically you wear every day all the time. It's very classic. Has to be timeless looking. So that in and of itself just keeps people away from taking chances and just go out of the norms. So while in jewelry in general, trend can apply. This is a very specific part of the industry where it seems like we just gravitate around these five main historical shapes.

18:16Bobby Schuessler:I was just going to say, out of those five, is there one or a couple that people are gravitating towards more? And do you foresee any of these five being front runners as we enter the new year? So oval-shaped diamonds have been the star of the show for, I would say, at least two, three years. It's still the number one best-selling shape for us. Round diamonds remain the number one shape, let's say, worldwide. What happens is that typically women want something that feels unique and personal. At least they come into this process always thinking that way. And in doing so, they're always looking for an opportunity to find a shape that is within this realm that we just talked about, but maybe something that's going to look a little bit different than what they see everywhere.

19:10I think the switch and trends come from fatigue more than like, whoa, like all of a sudden something just happened and everybody's jumping off to that. Like halos. I don't know if you remember in engagement rings, there were so many halos for so many years. The reason why is halos allowed when the diamonds were smaller to make a bigger ring. Right. Now that we use lab diamonds, we don't need to overdo it.

19:35Bobby Schuessler:Do you personally have a favorite? Like if someone came in and it's probably never the case, has no idea what they want, what is your personal favorite? Oh, my personal favorite is if it's big, emerald cut. That's my favorite. Yeah, just because I remember a particular ring that somebody I knew had a 10 carat D flawless emerald cut from Van Cleef a long time ago. And I thought that was the nicest, most elegant ring I had ever seen. The reason why a big sort of a larger emerald cut was mentioned that is also the emerald cut typically historically were cut because the rough was so good. Because you cannot hide inclusions into an emerald cut because it's a really large, open stone.

20:26So the best quality rough diamonds were typically selected and reserved for emerald cut shapes. So just kind of like the cream of the crop of diamonds were emerald cut. And then I do like cushions and ovals pretty much equally. They're soft, they're rounded, they're really gentle and pleasant. aesthetically. I like curves a lot.

20:50Bobby Schuessler:What's like the most common carat weight that you see or what's like an everyday that you're designing mainly? Is it like two carats, three? I'm always curious about what the average is. Let's just say if we ask what would be the ideal carat shape, it would be three. Three we couldn't afford before. Like generally speaking, like nobody could really afford a three carat diamond when it was natural. And if you did, you had to compromise so much that you had bad looking stones. And that's the one thing that I really love about lab is that sort of liberation and accessibility to quality. And so I think three is that right size that fits most of our lifestyles, that gives the design the amplitude that it needs to have, and it just check all the boxes.

21:36Bobby Schuessler:Okay. So to wrap things up, If listeners that aren't looking for an engagement ring, but want a piece of fine jewelry, maybe it's their first big jewelry purchase or want to add to their collection, what would you recommend them buying that will never go out of style? Whether it's a specific type of bracelet, earring, necklace, what are you thinking? I like to call it women's jewelry essentials. What are these pieces that you should buy if you can? Tennis bracelet. it looks good that you can dress it up or down yeah i mean a pair of studs should be like probably the first thing that you buy that lab also gives you an opportunity to have like a decent size beautiful quality frames your face perfect pendant you know just like very basic you're not taking any risks you can wear it all the time and then from there you can sort of build up but i would say jewelry essentials would be my recommendation.

22:36Bobby Schuessler:For like a great pair of studs, a tennis bracelet, are these pieces with lab grown that you can just keep on every day? You don't have to take it off or what's your recommendation with that? Can I just leave my stuff on all the time? Yes. Okay, great. Yes, you can. Unless you don't want to sleep on it and then hurt yourself. Other than that, you can wear it all the time. Perfect. I know we talked a little bit about your New York store and that's massive. What's coming up for you? Collections, the store, what can we expect in the new year? Very exciting things. I have been able this last year to design more collections than I have in the past 15 years.

23:12We are going to launch new collections using lab-grown diamonds where they shine. And some exploration, my design philosophy is to push the boundaries of metal, simplify the architecture as much as possible, make diamonds shine. I can think of two main collections that are coming up early 2026 that I'm very excited about because it's original. It doesn't look like anybody else because I don't like to look at what other people do because I just would like to keep everything mine. So very excited about those collections coming up.

23:55Bobby Schuessler:Amazing. Can't wait to see it all. Thank you so much. This was so wonderful. I feel like I learned so much and I know our listeners will too. This was great. Thank you so much.

24:10Bobby Schuessler:A huge thank you to fine jewelry designer, Jean Doucet. Make sure to subscribe to our show wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss an episode. And while you're there, I'd be so grateful if you'd rate and review us. If you have guest suggestions or any other feedback, drop us a line at podcast at whoatwear.com or you can find us on social at Whoatwear. See you next Wednesday on the Whoatwear podcast.

24:39Bobby Schuessler:This episode is produced by Hilary Kerr, Summer Hammeris and Natalie Thurman. Our production assistant is Raven Yamamoto. Our editor is Ko Takasugi Chernovan. Our audio engineers are at Glen Canyon Audio and our music is by Jonathan Leahy.