The Rise Of The ‘No-Reason’ Ring
While wearing certain designs on certain fingers can hold obvious meaning, tastemakers and jewelry connoisseurs share their love for buying beautiful rings ‘just because’. By CHARLIE BOYD
When it comes to jewelry, like most things in life, everyone has their vice. For jewelry influencers and true collectors, they often share the same obsession – rings, rings and more rings. Due to the powerful symbolism that we have placed upon rings for many centuries and across many cultures, they are often considered to be the most important pieces in our fine-jewelry wardrobe, with many designs silently declaring what they represent. Wear a diamond solitaire on your ‘ring finger’ and you’re engaged, add a simple band and you’re married, while wearing a crested signet ring on your pinky can hint at illustrious lineage. Rings that hold great meaning can be ultra-special, but there is also another joy to be had – indulging in the ‘no reason’ ring.
Content creator Ashley Davis is a true advocate of the ‘no reason’ ring, with a growing collection. “I think buying rings without any specific milestone or occasion in mind is an indulgence based on emotional connection. Adorning myself with beautiful, precious objects feels almost spiritual, because it feels like an act of self-love and self-appreciation, which is a very powerful energy in a world that can make us feel that we are never enough,” she muses. “With so many exciting voices in jewelry design I find myself purchasing rings out of pure excitement for someone’s work and point of view, as if I’m curating my own miniature art collection,” she says.
Jewelry consultant Mirta de Gisbert shares this approach to expanding her ring collection. “If I’ve met the designer and I’ve had the opportunity to learn their story, that sways the needle in terms of me wanting to buy one of their pieces,” she explains. De Gisbert quips that as a girl she would tell her mom that she wished she had more than 10 fingers, to make space for the rings she couldn’t help but fall in love with. “Rings make me feel strong, empowered, and connected to myself,” she explains. For de Gisbert, buying rings is sometimes a matter of instinct. “While I do love milestone purchases, I also believe in celebrating every day, so buying yourself a ring because it’s a Tuesday and you came across the perfect piece that speaks to you, is just as powerful,” she says. “And I guarantee you will look down at that ring and remember that random Tuesday fondly.”
Curating a fingerscape without being tied to specific design codes can also make for an ultra-creative collection. “I will buy a ring that I know I will wear no matter what the occasion is, as I purchase rings that are transformative,” says Francesca Simons, founder of PR agency Francesca Simons Consultancy, who represents some of the industry’s coolest contemporary jewelers. Simons is regularly spotted sporting ring stacks by Anita Ko, Marie Lichtenberg, Suzanne Kalan, Tabayer and Yvonne Léon, which she wears from day to night, dressed up or down. “All my rings were purchased simply because I loved the design and originality of the piece.”
Worn on our hands, rings are the piece of jewelry that physically interact with our loved ones and the world around us. Sarah Royce-Greensill, a jewelry consultant and writer (who even sold her wedding dress to fund a precious ring purchase) finds that her ‘no reason’ rings often acquire precious meaning. During lockdown, Royce-Greensill commissioned a custom cocktail ring; she was already engaged but wanted an investment piece to wear daily. Delays during the pandemic meant that by the time it arrived, she had discovered she was pregnant. “You can always find a way to reverse engineer a reason,” she quips.
Rings do, somehow, seem to reflect our identity more than any other piece of jewlery. “The rings I’ve purchased to wear day to day have become a part of my uniform,” concurs Davis. “Just as people have worn jewelry for symbolic protection since antiquity, they feel like a defensive layer between me and a chaotic world.” That seems reason enough to us.
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