A growing trend sees divorced women resetting their engagement or wedding rings into "divorce rings" — a way to reclaim the jewelry and shed the pain of a failed marriage. [AI-generated image]
A growing trend sees divorced women resetting their engagement or wedding rings into "divorce rings" — a way to reclaim the jewelry and shed the pain of a failed marriage. [AI-generated image]

"Marriage made me miserable, but the diamond did nothing wrong."

A new trend is emerging among the recently divorced: rather than letting an engagement or wedding ring become an unwanted reminder of a failed marriage, some women are having the jewelry reset into a "divorce ring." Some simply change the design of the original ring, while others go further — adding stones or embellishments to mark the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

The biggest difference from a wedding ring is which finger it goes on. Wedding rings are traditionally worn on the left ring finger, but divorce rings are most often worn on the middle finger. The choice is deliberate: the middle finger is associated with an obscene gesture in Western cultures, and wearing the ring there expresses frustration — at an ex-husband, a failed marriage, or both.

Women who share photos of their divorce rings on social media and blogs agree on one thing: "Divorce may have wounded me emotionally, but the value of a diamond has not changed." Leaving a ring in a box after a divorce, they say, is simply a waste — so they choose to keep wearing it, for themselves.

The divorce ring also carries a meaning of financial independence. Buying or resetting one is seen as a ritual of self-affirmation — proof that a woman can spend freely on herself without deferring to a husband or seeking anyone's approval. Some spend extra to have their original ring reset after a divorce; others spend millions of won on an entirely new ring.

In a BBC report on the divorce ring trend, 35-year-old influencer Dev Marino said she spent more than 2,000 pounds (about 4 million won) resetting her engagement ring into a new design after her divorce. She moved the center diamond to one end of the band and added a small sapphire at the other end to represent the daughter she had during the marriage. On her social media, Marino wrote that she would be wearing the ring on her middle finger, adding that after her marriage fell apart, she sometimes felt the urge to raise that very finger.

Seri Evans, a 58-year-old woman from Wales, spent 3,000 pounds (about 6 million won) on a diamond ring after her divorce last year. She called it "my declaration of independence," saying she bought it with money she had earned herself — not from the divorce settlement — as an act of defiance.

Kate Daly, co-founder of Amicable, a British company that provides divorce mediation services, said the divorce ring can be a way of celebrating financial liberation. "If a woman decides to buy herself a new ring at the point of divorce, it is a signal that she is making her own financial decisions and does not need anyone's permission," she said. For some, she added, it may be the first major spending decision they have made entirely on their own, without a partner.

Jewelers, for their part, are welcoming the trend — it has opened up an entirely new niche market for them.

Jewelers have noted that reselling a ring typically yields only about 30 percent of its original price. When customers come in asking about divorce rings, jewelers advise that resetting an old stone into a new design and wearing it is a far better "investment" than leaving the ring to sit in a drawer or selling it at a loss.


kate01@heraldcorp.com