They can't both be Art Deco


Many people mistakenly designate the style of both rings as Art Deco. However, while the ring with the red stones is indeed Art Deco, the style of the ring with just diamonds is called Retro (perhaps even early Fifties). That both styles are mingled is no great surprise, as one is strongly influenced by the other. The Retro style uses the same type and language of geometrical shapes as its predecessor, the Art Deco style, but with bolder, heavier lines, shapes, and stones.
The Art Deco style was introduced in the 1920s as a reaction against the dreamy (sometimes even hallucinatory) Art Nouveau style, and it ended in the 1930s. The style emphasised highly abstract designs with geometric patterns. The baguette and emerald cuts, which had been developed in the nineteenth century, were very popular in the 1920s because they blended perfectly with the geometrical lines of the Art Deco style.
The Retro style, as the successor of Art Deco, flourished between roughly 1940 and 1950. Typical of the Retro style is its imitation of three-dimensional folds of fabric, with the ribbon bow being its most popular motif, often highlighted in the centre with a calibré cut ruby or sapphire knot. In the Retro ring on the right, we can faintly recognise this bow shape.