To give Ratajkowski’s divorce jewelry an entirely new feel, the duo landed on separating the engagement ring into two rings. “The idea of divorce is a separation, so it was always going to be splitting the ring into two separate but complementary rings,” Chemla says. Both pieces incorporated the original engagement rings’ existing stones (one is a pear-shaped diamond, and the other is a princess-cut diamond) as well as platinum and 18-karat yellow gold settings. “Using the pear-shaped diamond as a pinky ring gave it real oomph,” the designer adds. “For the princess cut, we wanted to make it feel like a larger stone, so we added two trapezoid stones on either side.”
Reference-wise, Ratajkowski says the silhouette of the two new rings took inspiration from—who else?—Rihanna. “I was very inspired by Rihanna’s diamond pinky-toe ring—I liked the idea of my former wedding ring ending up on my pinky,” Ratajkowski says. “The princess cut was more challenging. Alison and I worked together to find something that felt fresh but also timeless.” She also wanted something completely different from the toi et moi ring she was proposed to with. “I was over the original design because it has been copied so many times,” she says. “It didn’t feel special anymore. [Now] I love them so much I haven’t been able to take them off—I’ve been sleeping with them on.”
While coming up with the sleek new pieces was a fun design challenge for the duo, the deeper meaning behind the design process infused the pieces with a special feel. “It was a fun project to work on together amidst a hugely transitional period in my life,” says Ratajkowski. “The ring became symbolic to me—some kind of token or evidence of my life becoming my own again.” When she first put it on, Ratajkowski admits she felt a sense of power, in using accessorizing to change the narrative around divorce and moving on. “It’s been a crazy couple of years, and finally I feel a sense of peace within myself and about the life and future I have and will continue to build with my son,” she says. “Somehow, these rings feel like a reminder that I can make myself happy in ways I never imagined.”