Diddy (aka P.Diddy/Puffy/Puff Daddy/Sean Coombs) & his monster diamond cross pendant. Nigo of A Bathing Ape fame with pave diamond-encrusted teeth. Pharrell Williams, hip hop fashion maven about town, sporting a $500,000 Jacob the Jeweler-designed medallion covered in 125 carats worth of ice. Since the early days of the genre when rap innovators like Run DMC, Slick Rick & Big Daddy Kane draped themselves in precious stones, hip hop has been synonymous with diamonds-diamonds-diamonds...& yet more diamonds. However, now that proles everywhere look just like their blinged-out heroes, the A-list is onto a more old-money approach to fine jewelry that reflects quality rather than quantity. "For the hip-hop demographic, you have to be aspirational," Damon Dash, a founder of Roc-A-Fella Records and chief executive officer of Dash Enterprises told WWD. "When you make something and spend a lot of money on it, you don't want to see everyone wearing the same thing." According to Minya Oh, author of "Bling Bling: Hip Hop's Crown Jewels", a more under-the-radar way of transmitting your vast weath & power is currently au currant: "Now it's ‘How do I hide my diamonds, while getting the right people to notice?' If you're a casual person not associated with bling, you may not notice. But someone who is a power player will." Reflecting this change, Dash's new campaign for his Tiret line of fancy jewelry & watches will be shot by fashion A-lister Steven Klein, and feature model Carolyn Murphy - who has modeled for white shoe jewelers Harry Winston & Tiffany. "We're going through a more restrained, more refined moment," agrees Robert Burke of NYC consulting firm Robert Burke Associates (formerly VP of fashion at Bergdorf Goodman). "Many of the hip-hop artists are [now] wearing tailored suits and the female artists are wearing couture and ready-to-wear dresses... A few years ago, it was tracksuits and a big piece of jewelry...It's not a more-is-more moment."

• GizMag article about Damon Dash's Tiret Line of Jewelry & Watches
• Photo of Old-School Rapper Slick Rick Decked Out in Bling Galore
• Fashiontribes Daily Fashion & Lifestyle Blog