Diamonds are supposed to represent the love, commitment, and blissfulness of a new journey ahead. It became the betrothal stone in the fifteenth century where it served as a proposal or wedding ring. However, it seems to be more of a curse to countries where diamonds originate.

Blood diamonds, also known as Conflict diamonds were mined illegally and traded in areas of Africa such as Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Guinea Bissau in the 1990s. The profits earned were spent by warlords on military weapons during the civil war, causing suffering and bloodshed to many innocents. Liberia was the main route used to export these illegally mined blood diamonds. In Sierra Leone alone, the civil war resulted in over 75,000 deaths and 500,000 refugees.

The civil wars funded by these diamonds have ceased but countries are now fighting over the resources.  Further, illegal mining of Burmese Rubies is on the rise. This issue needs to be curbed in order for the gemstone market to not be filled with unethical stones.

 

The dress is named Scarlet, designed to look like an edgy wedding dress. The diamond gives white light under normal light circumstances, but when the surrounding dims and no light is detected by the sensor, the diamond turns vibrant red. This is to mimic the idea of " increased bloodshed" when the miners dig deeper into the mines as more money can be profited to buy weapons, and more people can possibly be killed.