You wear your ring where?

They’re apparently called ‘above the knuckle’ rings … oh right.

Apparently they were big in the 80s and 90s … oh right, that passed me by (but I did live in the country).

An option is clearly to jam them down so far that can’t move… but otherwise, how on earth do they stay on? Does one need to have relatively large interphalangeal joints for them to stay put? Or perhaps only wear them when not doing a whole lot…

Anyways, the ‘trend’ does have substantial historic cred. Portraits from my favourite period, late 15th and early 16th century (Flemish and German), show many wearing rings in this position.

For example, my dearest Giovanna wears one:

detail; click on image for original artwork

And in fact many men of the era seemed to be fans …

detail of Portrait of Levinus Memminger; click on image for original artwork

Though I suspect that may be due to the pieces being inherited and simply being worn wherever they fit, as opposed to a deliberate fashion statement.

Oh wait, I’ve just realised that it’s weird that I love these portraits when I am anti-figurative in so many other ways … strange indeed.