“I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it” aren’t just lines from Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings.” For a growing number of women, they’re words to live by.
For far too long, jewelry has been considered a gift-only item. But the team at direct-to-consumer jewelry line Mejuri has found that their female customers are no longer waiting for a special occasion (or a man) to get the sparklers they’ve earmarked. Instead, they’re buying what they want, when they want it.
Noura Sakkijha, Mejuri’s cofounder and CEO, tells Glamour that consumers aren’t interested in waiting for a partner or loved one to think of gifting them that special something, not least because that outdated idea is still based on the notion that it’s a man who will purchase that item for a woman. “When we founded Mejuri, our goal was to change the narrative surrounding gifting and to place the purchasing power into the hands of women,” she explains. ”Now 75% of purchases [at Mejuri] are made by women, for themselves and for each other.”
To her point, just this week Mejuri launched its second engagement collection. “Before we developed the product, we saw that 62% of those who bought our first collection were women, so we reached out to them to learn more. Whether it was for their partner or to celebrate 30 as the new 21, women were buying the rings for all sorts of reasons—once again demonstrating that we don’t need to wait for anyone or any occasion to buy the damn diamond,” Sakkijha says.
Others in the industry have also taken note of this trend. In 2018, MVI Marketing, which provides consumer research on luxury goods and jewelry, found that 51% of millennial women with a household income of $75,000 or more purchase their own accessories, from rings to necklaces to bracelets. And an article from Quartzy traces the shift back to the 1980s, when more women began working outside the home and earning income of their own.
Still, the most noticeable increase has come in the past decade, with more women than ever wanting to recognize personal and professional milestones independent of their relationship status. Some, like one Glamour contributor, have even begun to invest in their own engagement rings.
Inspired to scoop up something just for you? Read on for the best pieces to treat yourself to, stat.
