In Breakfast at Tiffany's, Holly Golightly relishes browsing the glittering jewelry cases at one of the toniest stores in town.
It's that same kind of fantasizing that has brought droves to the Adiamondisforever.com website.
The most popular feature? The "design-your-own-engagement-ring" section. Users can pick the stone, band and side stones, and browse an additional gallery of over 7,500 pre-designed engagement rings.
The site has caught the attention of both the serious shopper and starry-eyed dreamer.
Malitta Westrick, 23, first checked out the site with a friend, and has designed about 20 different rings since. She's saved and printed out her favorite design.
"It's always a lot of fun to dream and fantasize," Westrick said. "I definitely think about marriage a lot more than when I was 18."
Westrick, who has a steady boyfriend, has referred about 20 people to the site -- some just for fun, and others, like her brother Chris, who are in the market for a ring.
"We'll all huddle around my (computer) screen and look at different designs," said Sara Roberts, a single New Yorker who heard about the site from her friends. "It's kind of fun to think about what your ring may look like in the future."
The site is sponsored by the Diamond Trading Company, formerly known as DeBeers. It includes information about the "4 Cs" of diamond selection: cut, clarity, carat weight and color.
Diamond shapes include pear, princess, heart and marquise, among others. Band choices are gold, white gold and platinum. A variety of side-stone options are also available.
Users can't purchase directly from the site, but instead can print out designs and bring them to a local jeweler. There is no advertising or e-commerce on the website.
"It allows them to see the breadth of designs that are available," said Richard Lennox, the director in charge of the Diamond Trading Company at J. Walter Thompson, the ad agency that runs the site. "A diamond engagement ring is one of the most important purchases that anyone will make or receive in their lifetime."
It's also a marketer's gold mine.
"If (users) start using our site to help build their dreams, that's absolutely fantastic," Lennox said. "All marketers are seeking ways to strengthen the bond between the brand and their consumers. This is a very innovative way of how you can do that."
E-commerce sites featuring design-your-own-ring tools include Blue Nile, Ashford.com and Mondera.
At Adiamondisforever.com, users must fill out a brief survey before designing their own ring. J. Walter Thompson collects the basic demographic information to "help us tailor ... to your needs." Questions include age range, marital status, personal income and relationship status.
While it is not new, the site has managed to sustain steady hits, with spikes in traffic during the months of February and April. According to statistics from J. Walter Thompson, almost 1.5 million people have responded to the survey since November 2000.
The users are about 80 percent female, with the majority between the ages of 18 and 34. About 45 percent claim to be dating their partner for one or more years, and the majority believe that a diamond engagement ring should be at least one carat.
Eileen, who declined to give her last name, discovered the site when a friend at work e-mailed her a picture of the ring she had created, and "the word kind of spread."
She passed word of the site on to about 10 friends and her boyfriend. He looked at the site even though "he's a boy and I wouldn't have expected him to do it," she said.
The two designed rings and passed them back and forth through e-mail. "We felt kind of awkward talking about it directly because of the romance and the mystique of getting engaged," Eileen said.
She said she wanted to have the experience of "opening up that little box and being surprised."
For the uneducated diamond shopper, the site has been a blessing.
"I work in the diamond district, and it's very daunting to actually go and look at diamonds," said Eileen, who is now engaged. "The salespeople are always really aggressive and pushy."
But because her boyfriend could design the ring online, "he knew exactly what he was getting when he made his purchase," she said.
"I can see a whole selection of rings without having to go to different stores," said Chris Westrick, who's been shopping for a ring for several weeks. "It's a lot easier to do. It's much more relaxing."
