How Natural Diamonds Shaped Paris Hilton’s Iconic Image
Paris Hilton has worn diamonds in every era of her life. From party-girl bling to refined, deeply personal designs, the pop-culture multihyphenate’s version of “sliving” always includes megawatt sparkle.
Published: January 6, 2025
Written by: Meredith Lepore
Paris Hilton is a true Renaissance woman. Though some still reduce her to a wild, wealthy teen from the Upper East Side—later immortalized as a reality superstar on The Simple Life and the architect of peak Y2K style (tiny dog in bag, trucker hat, oversized sunglasses, micro-minis, Moon Boots)—those images are shorthand for Hilton’s many accomplishments over the last 30 years. Yes, she did introduce the world to Kim Kardashian, but she also gave us the unexpectedly enduring pop ballad “Stars Are Blind,” so we’ll call it even.
A savvy businesswoman—who is also the world’s highest-paid female DJ—Paris Hilton is the founder and CEO of 11:11 Media, a global, next-generation entertainment company spanning albums, television shows, books, and consumer products. She told CNBC she wants to “build the next Disney” in an interview last year.
Hilton has also launched dozens of fragrances and, earlier this year, announced her new skincare line, Parívie. While the model and singer may still surprise some with her business acumen, strategy is in her blood: her great-grandfather was hotel magnate Conrad Hilton. “I always wanted to build something on my own. I didn’t want to be known as the Hilton Hotel granddaughter. I wanted to be known as Paris,” she said in the same interview.
Meet the Experts
Julia Teachey-Lemle began designing beautiful jewelry for her friends and clients in her “spare time.” Encouraged by the raves she received for her jewelry designs, Teachey-Lemle took the plunge, and her company Julieri was born. Her eponymous designs are now orn by style makers and celebrities worldwide.
Anubh Shah is the founder and CEO of With Clarity, a NYC jewelry e-commerce startup. He also manages multiple brands including Jean Dousset and the direct to consumer distribution of licensed jewelry including Disney, Star Wars and Marvel.
Ariel Saidian is a 4th Generation jeweler and runs his family’s company, Joseph Saidian and sons with his brother Daniel. Started in 1850, the company has an incredible array of gemstones, signed jewelry and jeweled objects. Joseph Saidian and Sons have dealt with some of the most legendary and historic jewels and gemstones of all time.
Though she has worked hard to build an empire, as a woman in the public eye, Paris Hilton’s love life has long been a point of fascination (a chapter soon to be revisited in an upcoming biopic produced by and starring Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning). Over the years, Hilton has provided plenty of tabloid fodder, including four engagements.
She is now married to venture capitalist Carter Reum, with whom she shares two young children, Phoenix and London. Each engagement brought with it a distinctive—and dazzling—natural diamond ring (including one dramatic episode in which a ring was lost in a crowded nightclub and, improbably, recovered). Beyond her engagement rings, Hilton is frequently seen wearing statement diamond jewelry both on and off the red carpet, reinforcing her long-standing relationship with high-impact sparkle.
Ahead, a look at Paris Hilton’s most iconic diamond jewels—from her four engagement rings spanning two decades to her dazzling chokers —each reflecting shifting cultural eras, evolving design sensibilities, and her own transformation from heiress and pop-culture fixture into a fully self-authored icon.
Engaged Through the Eras: Paris Hilton’s 4 Engagement Rings Over Time
Paris Hilton first got engaged in 2002, and her most recent engagement—to her now-husband Carter Reum—means she has worn four different engagement rings over the span of nearly two decades. In that time, bridal jewelry trends have shifted dramatically, from heavily embellished halos and the celebrity era of the supersized stone to today’s preference for pared-back, refined minimalism.
And yet, despite being engaged to four very different partners across distinct cultural eras, there is a surprising consistency in Paris Hilton’s engagement rings.
Julia Teachy-Lemle, founder and designer of Julieri, told Only Natural Diamonds, “Paris’s rings have trend elements that date the ring, but also… don’t differ that much from engagement to engagement. I’m not sure how involved she was in the ring process, but she definitely has a type.” Teachy-Lemie noted that 20 years ago, people leaned more toward the halo shape with ornate flourishes and less focus on the center stone. Now the aesthetic is to prioritize an exceptional center stone with a modern, minimalist setting.
Hilton’s four engagement rings reveal something bigger than the fleeting fashion trends of the time. They reflect Hilton’s unmistakable personal signature, requiring an analysis of each unique design.
2002: Pear-Shaped Solitaire Diamond from Jason Shaw
Dating all the way back to the dark ages of pre-social media, there is not much known about this ring. What we do know is that it was a large pear-shaped diamond (reportedly between 10 and 15 carats) set on a gold band and worth about $1 million. The engagement between model Jason Shaw and 21-year-old Paris Hilton was ultimately short-lived.
2004: Canary Diamond from Paris Latsis
Were you even a young female celebrity in the early aughts if you didn’t get engaged to a Greek shipping heir? Paris Hilton led the way when she began dating Paris Latsis, then 27, in 2004. The couple got engaged just eight months later!
Latsis originally proposed with a yellow diamond, which Hilton quickly dismissed. Determined to get it right, he then presented her with 15 different engagement ring options. She ultimately selected a 24-carat emerald-cut canary diamond flanked by two baguettes, reportedly worth $4.5 million. When Hilton later broke off the engagement, she auctioned the ring to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Teachy-Lemle points out that, at the time, engagement rings leaned heavily into embellishment and presence, and Hilton’s ring fit the cultural moment perfectly.
Anubh Shah, the Co-Founder of With Clarity, notes that Hilton’s first two engagement rings reflect the era’s “biggest rock” narrative, favoring high-carat solitaires designed to convey status and spectacle. “Over the past two decades, celebrity engagement rings have shifted from a singular emphasis on size to a more nuanced conversation around design, individuality, and symbolism. More recently, attention has moved toward distinctive cuts, bespoke settings, and rings that reflect personal identity rather than public expectation,” he says. “Paris Hilton’s engagement ring history mirrors this evolution. Her first two rings — a 10 and 15 carat pear-shaped diamond from Jason Shaw and a 24-carat canary diamond from Paris Latsis — epitomized mid-2000s ‘bigger is better’ celebrity culture.”
2018: Pear-Shaped Halo from Chris Zylka
It feels almost inevitable that world-renowned DJ Paris Hilton would lose her $2 million, 20-carat pear-shaped engagement ring—designed by Michael Greene—on the dance floor. In 2018, just two months after getting engaged to Chris Zylka, the ring slipped off at the RC Cola Plant nightclub in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood.
Hilton was understandably distraught as the couple and venue staff attempted to locate the ring inside the nearly 50,000-square-foot space, which can hold up to 6,000 people. Remarkably, the diamond was eventually recovered, found sitting in an ice bucket two tables away from where it had gone missing.
The 20-carat center stone is mounted on a platinum split-shank halo band, with an additional two carats of smaller diamonds encircling the setting. Unlike her first two rings, Hilton appears to have been less involved in the design process this time; instead, Chris Zylka had a clear vision. He wanted a design reminiscent of a ring belonging to Hilton’s mother, the incomparable Kathy Hilton.
Designer Michael Greene said in an interview with People Magazine that Zylka knew Hilton loved a pear-shaped diamond, and although he considered a few other options, he ultimately felt confident this was the right choice.
Shah noted that the Zylka ring marked a shift toward greater personalization for Hilton. Teachy-Lemle added that engagement rings, which break away from predictable formulas—by expressing personal identity or incorporating family history—feel especially refreshing and have increasingly become the norm among couples in the public eye. “The Royal Family does that right. Zendaya’s ring is a super cool, clean, and simple example. It is gorgeous, and there is a reason it was a favorite of 2025,” said Teachy-Lemle.
2021: Emerald-Cut Diamond from Carter Reum
In 2021, at age 40, Paris Hilton became engaged to Carter Reum. He presented her with a $2 million, 20-carat emerald-cut diamond set on a platinum band and framed by a halo of smaller diamonds, enhancing both its brilliance and intricacy. As Hilton later revealed in a video documenting the design process, the ring itself is named “Paris.”
Designed by renowned French celebrity jeweler Jean Dousset—the great-great-grandson of famed jeweler Louis Cartier—the ring was inspired by Paris’s Grand Palais and features a hidden pink sapphire shaped into the letter “P.” Much like the ring, the architecture of the Grand Palais is at its best when flooded with light. In addition to the emerald-cut center stone, the design includes 17 custom-cut tapered, trapezoid, and baguette diamonds, as well as the signature P-shaped pink sapphire.
Dousset wrote on his site of The Paris, “If you see the monument, the roof is made of thousands of pieces of glass connected by metal, which creates a veranda. But what I’ve always considered as the most interesting quality of the Grand Palais was that it was built to bring in natural light. Diamonds also feed off natural light—in fact, they come alive with light, and without a source of light, a diamond cannot reflect itself. So, architecturally speaking, the Grand Palais is the perfect monument to compare to a diamond ring. Both a diamond and the glass ceiling share a similar purpose.”
How Paris Hilton’s Engagement Ring Was Designed
With this ring—and its richly layered design story, so deeply infused with Paris’s personality—Teachy-Lemle observed, “There’s a lot of pressure to do something original, which makes it harder. It becomes easier when they have a refined sensibility, find a designer they trust, and let that designer turn their ideas into something truly new rather than derivative. Ultimately, it’s about trusting someone enough to take a risk—something people with a lot of money don’t always like, since a ‘safe’ choice feels easier in the public eye.”
Although Reum and Hilton didn’t approach him about the design until 2021, Dousset later shared that he had long envisioned creating a piece like Paris. Inspired by the technical complexity of the Grand Palais, he saw the ring as a rare opportunity to push creative boundaries—and welcomed the freedom Hilton and Reum gave him to bring a deeply personal, long-imagined design to life.
Shah noted that designing a bespoke engagement ring begins with listening—understanding the couple’s love story, the wearer’s personality, and their emotional associations with jewelry. “These insights guide every creative decision that follows. From there, multiple considerations come into play. At significant carat weights, the setting must protect and support the diamond while allowing it to shine without heavy metal interruption. In Paris Hilton’s ring, this was achieved through a tension-style setting, balancing beauty with structural integrity.”
Storytelling also plays a central role. The Grand Palais inspiration connects the ring to the city, her name, and the elegance of Art Nouveau. Even the hidden pink sapphire “P” beneath the setting embeds layers of personal meaning that aren’t immediately visible, but deeply felt.
Shah added that even with a ring of this scale, wearability remains essential. “A 20-carat ring must function in everyday life. The most successful bespoke designs balance gemstone integrity, aesthetic expression, and personal narrative—creating something meaningful, beautiful, and genuinely wearable over time.”
Why Paris Hilton’s Engagement Ring Marks a Shift in Celebrity Jewelry
Shah said the ring is also significant because it reflects the 2020s shift toward bespoke, story-driven design. “When you’re Paris Hilton, your engagement ring is never just a ring—it’s very much a public symbol as well as a personal piece. Her earlier rings, especially that $4.7 million canary diamond, were performing the role everyone expected: the heiress with the biggest rock. The value was reported as if it validated the relationship. But her current ring tells a different story.
Carter Reum packed it with personal details—the Grand Palais architecture, that hidden ‘P’ sapphire, all these intimate touches. For the first time, we’re seeing Paris express identity rather than meet expectations. The ring’s story has become inseparable from its value—maybe even more important than its specs. “When Carter proposed on Paris’s 40th birthday, the ring wasn’t just expensive; it was encoded. Layers upon layers of meaning,” Shah said.
Shah compared Hilton’s ring to the one Prince Harry gave Meghan Markle—featuring a center stone sourced from Botswana, side stones from Princess Diana’s collection, and a yellow-gold band chosen “because Meghan loves it.” Rings like Hilton’s, he explained, emphasize emotional provenance rather than simple geographic origin. “For high-profile figures whose lives are intensely public, these private narratives become especially precious. The world can photograph Paris’s ring, but only she and Carter know about the hidden pink ‘P’ sapphire. Narrative-rich jewelry creates pockets of privacy in lives lived under constant scrutiny.”
And considering that Carter Reum is the only man Paris Hilton was ever engaged to and then married, perhaps the specifics of the ring mattered less than the relationship itself—though it certainly didn’t hurt that the design was flawless. “When you find your soulmate, you just don’t know it. You feel it,” Hilton wrote in an Instagram post. “I said yes, yes to forever. There’s no one I’d rather spend forever with.” The couple has now been married for more than four years.
Beyond Engagement Rings: Paris Hilton’s Statement Diamond Jewelry
Although it is tough to beat a $2 million, 20-carat ring with a hidden sapphire, Hilton has worn some stunning natural diamond pieces over the years, as well as some beautiful colored gems. Her diamond style has evolved from Y2K heiress to glamorous powerhouse.
When someone like Paris, who has unlimited access to flawless white diamonds, chooses to wear a $4.7 million canary diamond or blue topaz and diamond earrings with enamel, it normalizes colored stones in fine jewelry.
“When someone like Paris, who has unlimited access to flawless white diamonds, chooses to wear a $4.7 million canary diamond or blue topaz and diamond earrings with enamel, it normalizes colored stones in fine jewelry. But what’s really influential is how she mixes them,” Shay says. “ Her pieces often feature diamonds alongside colored gems, proving they’re not competitors—they’re collaborators. Natural diamonds can anchor and enhance colored gemstones, while colored stones add personality to diamond jewelry. That integrative approach has broadened how we think about fine jewelry entirely.”
Below, a look at some of Hilton’s best diamond pieces over the years.
2002: Julien McDonald Diamond Choker
Paris Hilton’s 21st birthday dress was iconic, to say the least. It encapsulated Y2K in all its splendor and still had a Paris signature stamp. Though the dress itself was mesmerizing—an asymmetrical chain-link halter sheath with a cowl neck and exposed back, styled with strappy white heels, a baby-pink handbag, a sparkly butterfly hair clip tucked into her then–super-short blonde haircut, and smoky eyes—the necklace was the true icing on the cake. A wide diamond choker, designed by Julien McDonald, it was created to perfectly match the dress, which he also designed.
The look would go on to become a defining uniform of the early-aughts socialite party girl. Kendall Jenner wore a similar version in 2018, as did Nicky Hilton Rothschild that same year. For Paris Hilton, the dress became a signature she would revisit repeatedly over the next two decades.
In 2023, Hilton wore a close replica—this time more fitted than sheath-like—paired once again with a thick diamond choker. Then, at the MTV VMAs in 2024, she paid homage to herself yet again in a deconstructed version of the dress by Celia Kritharioti, accessorized with a Swarovski Millenia choker made of octagon-cut crystals, layered with a matching Millenia necklace. Perhaps that many chokers rendered in natural diamonds would have simply been too much weight for Hilton’s neck.
2019: Jean Dousset Diamond Necklace
When Paris Hilton attended Sofia Richie’s wedding to Elliot Grainge at the legendary Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in 2023, she didn’t upstage the bride, who was herself in the midst of her now-iconic transformation from Hollywood teen queen to quiet-luxury muse, but she more than held her own as a wedding guest.
Hilton once again turned to Jean Dousset, wearing a diamond choker paired with matching stud earrings. With her hair swept into a sleek low bun, she channeled a modern-day Grace Kelly—elegant, restrained, and perfectly attuned to the Riviera setting.
2021: Wedding Jewelry by Jean Dousset
Hilton wore six wedding gowns throughout her wedding celebration. She began with a classic, high-neck Oscar de la Renta gown for the ceremony, followed by an off-the-shoulder white tulle dress by Galia Lahav at the start of the reception. She then changed into a white beaded gown by Pamella Roland before returning to Oscar de la Renta for two additional looks: a short white dress with an almost tutu-like skirt, and a custom crystal star–embroidered gown. The celestial motif on the latter required more than 3,000 hours of hand embroidery. For the after-party, Hilton changed into a pink Alice + Olivia wedding dress.
To accessorize the series of looks, Hilton relied on timeless diamond jewelry by Jean Dousset. She paired all of the white gowns with simple drop earrings featuring large round diamonds custom-made by Dousset. For her second look, she added a custom diamond choker by Dousset along with a diamond headpiece by Maria Elena. She removed the choker for the Pamella Roland gown but kept the earrings and headpiece, pared the look back to just the earrings for the short Oscar de la Renta dress, and finished the crystal-embroidered Oscar de la Renta gown with the Dousset earrings and Maria Elena headpiece once more.
2025: Joseph Saidian & Sons Old Mine Diamond Choker
It could be argued that before “big rock” engagement rings became her signature, diamond chokers were Paris Hilton’s go-to jewelry statement. As seen with her memorable 21st birthday look, she was frequently photographed in thick, high-impact chokers—most notably the S/S 2000 Dolce & Gabbana extra-wide choker necklace, which she wore on multiple occasions.
But classics never truly go out of style. In 2025, Hilton returned to the look in a more refined, archival way, wearing a vintage pearl and old mine diamond choker set in 18K white gold by Joseph Saidian & Sons to the Breakthrough Prize Awards. The necklace retails for $30,000—proof that while the scale may evolve, Hilton’s affinity for neck-grazing diamonds remains unchanged.
Fourth-generation jeweler Arial Saidian told Only Natural Diamonds, “This necklace has a lot of ingredients of what is in vogue now in the jewelry world: antique cut diamonds, chokers, and vintage character. This is a classic example of a jewel that would be extremely hard to make today. For a jewel like this, consumers almost always have to go vintage. This necklace is a wonderful way to take a category of jewelry, like a pearl necklace that may seem outdated to many, and make it cool, elegant and hip again. It has personality and uniqueness that you would not get from a modern single strand of pearls.”
The diamond choker remains a staple of Paris Hilton’s jewelry aesthetic—and she’s never been afraid to repeat a look that works. She wore the style multiple times throughout the past holiday season, as well as to events like one of Kris Jenner’s many birthday celebrations, reinforcing just how central the choker is to her signature look.
Teachy-Lemle said, “Repeats are great because if something is classically hip, it should be repeated or layered differently (mixing different types of jewelry). How celebrities style their pieces really influences the brands, and in turn, the market.”
2025: Chopard Haute Joaillerie Necklace
In October, Paris Hilton attended the Vivienne Westwood fashion show in Paris alongside her sister, Nicky Hilton Rothschild. For the occasion, Hilton wore a spectacular Chopard necklace featuring 101.86 carats of pear-cut yellow diamonds, 116.30 carats of marquise-cut diamonds, 43.40 carats of pear-cut diamonds, 1.84 carats of round-cut yellow diamonds, and 0.10 carat of additional diamonds—all set in 18-karat white gold.
As if that weren’t enough, she paired the necklace with matching earrings featuring 6.25 carats of pear-cut yellow diamonds, 5.58 carats of pear-cut diamonds, and 2.193 carats of round- and marquise-cut diamonds, along with a ring set with a 7.99-carat pear-cut yellow diamond and 1.72 carats of round-faceted diamonds. The entire suite came from Chopard’s Haute Joaillerie collection.
After all, in her namesake city, Hilton had to shine.
Paris Hilton’s Love of Diamond Tiaras Spans Every Era
You can’t blame a girl for trying. One of Paris Hilton’s signature Y2K party accessories was a tiny diamond tiara, perched atop her trademark blonde hair. She has said that as a teenager, she would hunt for them at stores like Patricia Field and Hotel Venus, eventually amassing a collection of more than 200—kept, naturally, in glass crystal cases (no wonder The Bling Ring took notice).
Teachy-Lemle said of Hilton’s love of tiaras, “Can we just say it—you want to feel like a princess. Who doesn’t? Just as we embrace bespoke rings, why not embrace the full world of jewelry? Think of how people layer at the Met Gala. Wear multiple headbands, not only diamonds but also colored precious stones. When done well, head jewelry (tiaras, headbands, barrettes, etc) works beautifully for summer black tie or holiday events—especially with flowy, effortless clothes.”
From Spectacle to Selfhood: Paris Hilton’s Diamond Evolution
There is real power in Paris Hilton’s approach to accessories. While she could use jewelry simply to signal wealth—as some of her former fiancés attempted to do, for themselves as much as for her—Hilton instead uses jewelry as authorship. Time and again, she returns to natural diamonds as the foundation of that narrative, choosing pieces that feel enduring, intentional, and deeply personal rather than purely performative.
Unafraid of fun or whimsy, she can effortlessly pair a $2 million natural diamond engagement ring with a $56 mermaid-themed tiara. She may always retain the spirit of her 21-year-old party-girl self, but it’s now underscored by strategic ambition and self-awareness. Each natural diamond ring, choker, tiara, and statement jewel doesn’t merely reflect the aesthetics of its era—it charts Hilton’s evolving relationship with visibility, femininity, and power.
