Editor’s Note
This article explores the emerging trend of “divorce rings,” examining how public figures like Emily Ratajkowski are redefining the symbolism of post-marriage jewelry. It highlights a personal and creative approach to reclaiming narrative after a relationship ends.
After their separation, many women decide to give new meaning to their wedding jewelry, transform it in a workshop, and wear it afterwards as a symbol of self-love.
Amaia Odriozola
12 Apr 2024 – 05:30 CEST
A study said years ago: the more expensive the ring, the sooner the divorce comes. Sometimes, it doesn’t even make it to the wedding: that’s what happened to Jennifer Lopez the first time she got engaged to Ben Affleck. The $2.5 million price tag and the stunning 6.1-carat pink diamond that Harry Winston designed for the occasion didn’t prevent the engagement from being called off. Over time, it became public that Lopez intended to return the jewel to her then-ex-partner, but nothing more was known. The truth is that there is no manual that says what to do with the engagement ring once the relationship breaks down, and the solution to the issue is as personal as it is valid, ranging from options like returning it, storing it in a drawer, selling it, or remaking the jewelry by transforming it into another piece. According to jewelers, none of this is new, but something has changed in recent times.
A few days ago, model Emily Ratajkowski (who finalized her divorce from producer Sebastian Bear-McClard in 2023 after a notorious infidelity by him) proudly shared on Instagram that she had created a pair of “divorce rings” by remodeling the pear and princess cut diamonds from her engagement ring. The same New York jeweler who designed the first one, Alison Chemla of the Alison Lou brand, created the new jewels. The photos have already received over a million “likes,” but the impact of her announcement soon went further: “Divorce rings are having a moment,” The New York Times published.
Ratajkowski is one of the influencers driving a change in the way we talk about divorce, focusing on the reuse of wedding jewelry. In an interview with Vogue UK, the model says that her remodeled engagement ring became symbolic for her, a kind of proof that her life was hers again. When she first put it on, Ratajkowski admits she felt a sense of power in using accessories to change the narrative around divorce and move forward.
Something similar happened this same month to Sofía (a fictitious name to preserve her anonymity). A longtime client of the Madrid jewelry store Nicols, this time she came to their store with a special order: now divorced, she wanted to remake the ring with a significant two-carat solitaire diamond that her now ex-husband gave her when he proposed. The solution? Transform it into a ring with other stones that symbolize other things, like a green emerald. In addition to the metamorphosis, Sofía made another important modification: she changed its finger. Instead of continuing to wear it on the ring finger, which is classically associated with marriage, she has now moved it to the index finger, “the finger of power.” With this gesture, she seeks to evoke “the power of the future, of moving forward, and of continuing to learn from life.”
In the workshop of Joyerías Nicols, they have done this type of work “forever,” Dani Nicolás, vice president and commercial director of the company, confirms to S Moda.
Nicolás says that those who decide to remake the ring completely change it, either with other stones or in other shapes, and that in addition to creating new rings, they are reforming engagement pieces into necklaces, placed towards the heart to give them new symbolism, with a chain and a bezel. The starting price for one of these transformations is 500 euros, taking as an example two classic 18-karat gold wedding bands, and the ceiling is set by the client, depending on how far they want to go. Those who have not ended their divorce amicably usually prefer, he says, to sell those stones, get rid of them, and leave them behind to buy a new one that celebrates their new life situation: the main difference is that they avoid the diamond (it is the stone associated with eternal love since 100 years ago when the DeBeers jewelry company launched a marketing campaign with the powerful slogan A Diamond Is Forever). To celebrate divorces, sapphires, emeralds, or rubies are used more.
