Kim Kardashian Shares Who Will Inherit Her Engagement Ring from Kanye West
Kim Kardashian has disclosed her plans for her beloved 15-carat engagement ring from her former husband Kanye West: it will be passed down to her eldest daughter, North.
In a recent episode of The Kardashians, the 44-year-old reality star stated that she still has the first engagement ring that West, 47, gifted her, which was crafted by renowned celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz.
This piece of jewelry was the sole item she chose to leave behind during her unfortunate trip to Paris in 2016—a decision that proved to be remarkably prescient. While attending Paris Fashion Week, Kardashian was the victim of a break-in, where over $10 million worth of jewelry was taken from her apartment at the Hotel de Pourtalès.
“The first ring I got engaged with Kanye was a cushion cut, and that was the only item of jewelry that I didn’t take to Paris,” Kardashian recounted, reflecting on the traumatic robbery. “So I’m going to give that one to Northie because she was with me when I got engaged.” She added, “She held it afterward, and I took a photo of her just a few months old.”
On Kardashian’s 33rd birthday in October 2013, West proposed with a custom-made 15-carat diamond engagement ring from Lorraine Schwartz, shortly after the birth of their first child, North West, that June. Just months prior to the Paris incident, the rapper had upgraded his wife’s ring to a 20-carat emerald-cut diamond, also designed by Schwartz. Despite this, Kardashian stated that her original diamond engagement ring holds the title of the “most important” piece in her jewelry collection.
During the same episode, Kardashian reminisced about how West had cautioned her against wearing both rings at once, expressing concern that it would make her a target for robbery—a chilling premonition of the future events. She recalled a moment when West admonished her about appearing in public with both rings, after he noticed a friend’s Instagram post where she did just that.
“Kanye saw it and said, ‘Don’t you ever wear both of your rings at the same time. Are you trying to get robbed?’” she recalled.
The Paris robbery had a profound effect on Kardashian, prompting her to minimize her use of extravagant and expensive jewelry. Now, she prefers to borrow pieces instead of owning them, a practical approach born from her traumatic experience.
In 2019, Kardashian posted on Instagram about the return of her “stolen” ring, revealing that Schwartz created a replica of her original engagement sparkler, which she occasionally borrows.
Kardashian’s choice to pass the ring down to her eldest daughter gives insight into North, who sometimes wears items from her father’s wardrobe that carry a similar significance, such as the Pastelle varsity jacket she donned during a later Paris Fashion Week trip in July 2022.
This was not just any piece from her father’s collection. The musician wore that same cobalt blue jacket during the 2008 American Music Awards, where he claimed the awards for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Male Artist. Moreover, the Pastelle line marked West’s initial venture into the fashion industry, despite ultimately not coming to fruition.
Pieces from Pastelle are now quite rare, as the label shifted into the hands of one of West’s creative partners, Ian Dior, as reported by GQ. In 2022, a medium-sized version of the Pastelle jacket that North was seen wearing sold for $10,000 online. Shortly after, Kardashian reached out to Justin Reed, the owner of the high-end consignment store, to purchase the same jacket as a surprise for North ahead of their mother-daughter visit to Paris.
