Martin Katz Shifts From Red Carpet to Bespoke Bridal Engagement Rings

After we got three or four women in two months saying the same thing—'I'm glad he didn't buy me lab-grown'—it occurred to me that I'd better pay more attention to the bridal market," Martin Katz says, explaining a recent business pivot from celebrity red carpets to bespoke engagement and wedding jewelry. Katz, based in Beverly Hills and long known for dressing stars, framed the move as a response to repeat client preference rather than a trend-driven gambit.

Katz’s red-carpet credentials reach back to a watershed moment in 1992, when Sharon Stone wore his jewelry to the premiere of Basic Instinct, a placement that "inadvertently turned the equally-unknown Katz into a 'jeweler to the stars.'" He sold luxury jewelry and watches at I. Magnin before designing his own pieces, and he began selling from a kitchenette table in his one-bedroom apartment, an early origin story that underlines the hands-on, atelier ethos he maintains in his Beverly Hills salon today.

That atelier remains visible on the awards circuit. At the Golden Globe Awards on January 11, 2026, Jessie Buckley wore Desert Diamonds by Martin Katz in collaboration with A Diamond Is Forever, paired with a Dior gown. Charlotte Carroll appeared in a Carolina Herrera gown wearing kunzite and diamond pavé drop earrings and a diamond choker in 18-carat white gold by Martin Katz, and she also wore Katz pieces at BAFTA the night prior - including aquamarine and diamond drop earrings, a marquise and round diamond necklace, and a marquise rose-cut diamond ring. Golden Globes President Helen Hoehne selected Katz for both red carpet and on-stage moments, pairing an Oscar de la Renta gown with pear-shaped diamond circle motif earrings, a diamond tennis bracelet, and Saturn diamond rings for the red carpet, then a Tom Ford dress with diamond briolette chandelier earrings, the same tennis bracelet, and matching Saturn rings on stage.

Katz says his taste has long skewed to unusual stones and cuts - "I’ve always liked unusual stones and diamond cuts," he says - and he cites antique diamonds, elongated cuts such as movals, and cognac hues as bridal trends he’s seeing. He contrasts that with a continuing market for white diamonds in white metal among many 20-somethings, and he is responding to a "desire for personalized details" by offering to "create their initials in the baskets of the rings." Katz summarizes his experience with a plain declaration: "I’ve been in this game forever."

Product examples make the pivot tangible. A featured image caption lists a ring in 18k rose gold with a 7 ct. moval-cut cognac diamond, epaulet diamonds, and microset diamonds, price on request. Katz’s 2019 work includes a "magnificent champagne rose" cushion-cut diamond engagement ring made for Erin Foster; Katz recounts the anecdote, "After Swiftie got engaged, I texted Erin and said, 'Tell Swiftie you had it first.'"

Katz’s work marries vintage influence and contemporary bridal demand. He cites Deco, late-Edwardian, and 1930s-1940s cocktail jewelry as influences, and his signature motifs include thread-thin Microbands, micro-pavé bows, and flora and fauna designs such as Feather MicroBands and a starfish brooch. His pieces are available from his Beverly Hills salon and, he reports, exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue, signaling a continuity between haute red-carpet visibility and the bespoke service he is now offering engaged clients.