Marilyn Knew: Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Gorgeous actress Marilyn Monroe, taken from the world too soon, knew the secret: Diamonds are a girl's best friend! She performed this song at the height of her beauty and glamour, giving moviegoers the rare treat of Marilyn at her very best.

"Square cut or pear-shaped,

These rocks don't lose their shape -

Diamonds are a girl's best friend"

Marilyn Monroe knew what most women know: If you love me, buy me a diamond! Better still, lots of diamonds! For ages, white diamonds have been a girl's best friend. In the old days of some countries, engagement and wedding rings could range from simple gold bands to elaborate, multi-gem rings. But for today's modern bride, only a white diamond will do. Not only did Marilyn Monroe, the icon of her day of alluring beauty, declare that diamonds are a girl's best friend, but another one of today's most magnificent enduring beauties, Elizabeth Taylor, named her signature perfume after the spectacular white diamond.

Why are Diamonds a Girl's Best Friend?

White diamonds are, in simple terms, incredibly beautiful. Since it took nature eons to form a diamond from a lump of black carbon, the white diamond symbolizes a love that will last forever. In the English Middle Ages, a man showed his prosperity to his lady love and her father (even more important) that he had the monetary means to provide for his bride and their family to come. A man who could not place a diamond on his beloved's hand would most likely be rejected by her and her father since he was not a "man of means." Thus, not only are diamonds a girl's best friend in today's times, this custom extends centuries into the past.

Not much has changed between the Middle Ages and today. Brides still expect to see a diamond engagement ring presented to them as a symbol of their fiancé's means, fidelity and earnestness. Diamonds are not only a girl's best friend, but they also symbolize the serious intentions of their suitor. "If you want my hand in marriage," they seem to say, "put a diamond on it." Just like the fathers centuries ago, many modern fathers want to see that ring to prove his daughter's suitor's serious intentions.

Why are diamonds a girl's best friend? For the exact reasons that Marilyn Monroe, dressed in pink satin and white furs, sang in her timeless performance years ago; these rocks don't lose their "shape," either economically or sentimentally.