Shimmering on Deb Marino's finger are diamonds set in an eye-catching gold ring – but it's not an engagement ring. “Of course it's a middle finger ring, because, why not?” the Florida-based blogger says on her TikTok feed. She spent $3,000 (£2,245) resetting her engagement diamond into an open circle, adding a sapphire to represent her daughter. Getting rid of the ring would have suggested a regret the 34-year-old doesn't feel. “I didn't want it locked away in a box,” she says. “Diamonds are precious.”
Around the world, women are marking their split with new – or repurposed – statement pieces: the divorce ring. Jewellers report growing interest in transforming old rings into new items. For many, it makes financial sense: ring resale values tend to be only around 30% of the original price. But the trend also carries deeper meaning. Kate Daly, co-founder of Amicable, a UK company offering mediated divorce services, says a divorce ring can mark “financial liberation”. “Your whole life gets thrown up in the air,” she says. “Your finances are under extreme pressure.” Buying a new ring at that point, she adds, is a sign a woman is making her own financial decisions, “not needing to ask permission from anyone”. “It's very easy to trivialise, but maybe that's the first big spending decision you've made in a very long time, and certainly perhaps the biggest one you've made solo for a long time.”
“Women are turning engagement rings into 'divorce rings' as a defiant symbol of financial and emotional independence.”
Ceri Evans, 58, from Wales, bought a £3,000 diamond ring after finally splitting from her husband last year – not a redesign but a fresh start: three large diamonds in an art deco-style platinum ring on the fourth finger of her right hand. “I say it's my USA ring,” she jokes. “My declaration of independence.” She paid for it “out of defiance” with her own money, not her divorce settlement. Deb's middle finger statement fits right in with what fashion pages call this year's “hot divorcee summer” – a celebration of liberated glamour and “don't care energy”.