The diamonds on Deb Marino’s finger shimmer as she holds up her hand for the camera – and it’s the finger she’s chosen that makes the statement. “Of course it’s a middle finger ring, because, why not?” the Florida-based blogger, 34, says on her TikTok feed.
Her ring is not an engagement ring but a divorce ring: the original diamond from her failed marriage has been reset at one end of an open circle, with a new sapphire added at the other to represent her daughter. It cost $3,000 (£2,245), a sizeable sum when divorces can be expensive. But getting rid of the old ring would have suggested a regret she doesn’t feel – her marriage brought her daughter – and not wearing it would have felt like a waste. “I didn’t want it locked away in a box,” she says. “Diamonds are precious.”
“Women increasingly buy 'divorce rings' as defiant financial and emotional statements after marriage splits.”
Deb is part of a rising trend promoted by jewellers around the world of women marking a new chapter with a new statement piece: the divorce ring. The trend sits squarely within what fashion pages are calling this year’s “hot divorcee summer” – a celebration of liberated glamour and a “don’t care energy”.
It can also be a way of marking financial liberation, says Kate Daly, co-founder of Amicable, a UK company offering mediated divorce services. “Your whole life gets thrown up in the air,” she says. “Your finances are under extreme pressure.” If at that point a woman decides to buy a new ring, Daly says, it’s a sign she is making her own financial decisions and “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.”
Ceri Evans’ divorce ring was 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. The 58-year-old from Wales bought the £3,000 ring after finally splitting from her husband last year. She paid for it “out of defiance” with her own money, not her divorce settlement. “I say it’s my USA ring,” she jokes. “My declaration of independence.”
For many women, the economics of the trend make sense: ring resale values tend to be only around 30% of the original price, so giving old jewellery a new life feels a better investment than selling at a loss. The divorce ring, then, is both a middle finger to the past and a diamond-studded stake in the future – a piece of jewellery that says the wearer is no longer asking permission.