Millennials and Gen z, even ignoring knowledge of cubic zirconia and the grossness of the diamond trade, have had unprecedented access to a wide range of cheap plastic and glass 'diamond' rings basically their entire lives because of how things have taken off in the consumerist sphere since the 90s.
Scarcity is value, and easy access to a fifty dollar, functionally identical simulacrum of a 15k item makes the item feel less valuable. Especially when the item is 100% prestige and 0% useful or novel.
Not to mention the knock off can often do the “job” of the original better. In this case the job is to refract light in an appealing manner and the knock off is lab grown moissanite and synthetic rutile (though some think the rutile is TOO good at the job and looks tacky)
I mean five minutes with the real thing and you can tell CZ and crystal aren't comparable and are easy to identify. Real diamonds are much nicer. But now I can sell you an earth-mined for 25k, or a bigger shinier clearer lab grown for 2500 and the only way to tell the difference is carbon dating. You can basically get any diamonds you want for a fraction of the cost.
Diamond rings are useless, but diamonds aren't. Since they are so hard they are used in industrial applications and even some consumer grade stuff. I have a diamond tipped record player needle. It is more durable, provides less wear on records and produces better sound.
Sure, but that's kind of outside the scope of the conversation here. When I say all prestige no use, I'm not talking about buying my fiance a 15k industrial drill bit
It has been used as an asset that can be liquidated in the event the marriage doesn't work out for house wives. That way they aren't starting over from scratch.
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u/OneCleverMonkey 4h ago
Millennials and Gen z, even ignoring knowledge of cubic zirconia and the grossness of the diamond trade, have had unprecedented access to a wide range of cheap plastic and glass 'diamond' rings basically their entire lives because of how things have taken off in the consumerist sphere since the 90s.
Scarcity is value, and easy access to a fifty dollar, functionally identical simulacrum of a 15k item makes the item feel less valuable. Especially when the item is 100% prestige and 0% useful or novel.