The Story Behind That Ring You Can't Stop Seeing

In 2025, the BB Thelma ring by Aaryah has secured its spot as a defining staple in the modern cool girl’s fine jewelry rotation.

With its dainty, sculptural silhouette, tilted pear-shaped center, and mirror-like diamond or gemstone finish, the BB Thelma offers a tactile, almost meditative presence on the hand. It’s the kind of piece that draws a second glance—and then a question: Where did you get that?

That was exactly what I DMed influencer Rocky Barnes after she posted a far-away photo wearing the ring. Even through an Instagram Story, the BB Thelma shimmered with quiet confidence. It wasn’t flashy. It didn’t beg for attention. It just was. What made it stand out even more? It sat on her pinky finger—a placement that has evolved from an afterthought to a bold, deliberate statement in 2025.

Once a symbol of lineage and legacy—think signet rings worn by older men in the 1900s—the pinky ring has been reclaimed by women as a sign of autonomy and personal style. The BB Thelma captures that shift. "We've found that women are buying it for themselves," says Aaryah founder Megan Kothari. "Traditionally, fine jewelry is something gifted by a partner, for a milestone—but our customers are flipping that. They’re buying BB Thelma rings to celebrate themselves."

But let's rewind. Before the BB Thelma ring became Aaryah's signature piece, the brand was born with a mission to honor Kothari's Indian heritage and the importance of jewelry in it, amplify women’s voices in a male-dominated industry, and reimagine what fine jewelry could mean for a new generation.

Kothari comes from a long line of jewelers (her grandfather and father both worked in the trade), but she didn’t plan to follow in their footsteps. "Growing up, I never wanted to be in this industry," she says. "It was very male-dominated. There wasn’t really space for women’s voices. So I went into beauty instead, working at L'Oréal and Estée Lauder."

It wasn’t until 2020, during the pandemic, that she began to reconsider her approach. She drew on years of observation, a diamond grading class at FIT, and extensive self-teaching. Kothari began working with a jeweler in Manhattan’s Diamond District to bring her vision to life. She then began helping friends design engagement rings, and through that process, she noticed a gap in the market for unconventional and unique engagement ring styles. It pushed her to design her first signature engagement ring, the Trikona—a negative-space triangle ring that quickly found its audience.

"I brought it to an event and it went viral," Kothari says. "A magazine picked it up, then a few more publications, and it actually sold pretty fast. That was the moment I realized, there’s something here." A year later, Aaryah officially launched its first collection of nontraditional engagement rings.

Among those designs was the original Thelma—a sculptural engagement piece featuring an organic, satin-finished gold band that cradled a slanted pear-cut diamond. "It went viral on Pinterest," Kothari recalls. "We got so much good feedback, and I started thinking, 'What if we created a non-bridal version for people who loved the design but weren’t necessarily shopping for engagement rings?'"

That idea became the BB Thelma. Kothari and her team scaled down the silhouette to fit the pinky, then posted a mockup on Instagram to get follower feedback. "We did not anticipate the response," she says. "We launched a pre-sale and got so many orders that we were delayed in fulfilling them."

So why has it resonated so strongly? "A pinky ring is symbolic of personal power," Kothari says. "We've had clients say, ‘I just got a promotion—I want to buy myself a pinky ring,’ or ‘I just want to treat myself to something nice.’"

Prices range from $1000 to $2500, and many customers aren’t stopping at one. "We've seen women stacking two at a time [as they hug each other nicely]," Kothari says. "It's been amazing to see how they're building personal collections." The BB Thelma is available in various natural stones—ruby, amethyst, sapphire, emerald—allowing customers to personalize the piece based on birthstones or other meaningful markers. "There's so much emotion behind it," she adds. "It becomes a piece you never want to take off."

And speaking of never taking it off, besides Barnes, tastemakers like Nara Smith and Melissa Wood are rarely seen without theirs. Whether they’re cooking from scratch or leading Pilates-inspired mat workouts, the BB Thelma is there, catching the light. This small but impactful piece has created a ripple effect, inspiring buyers far beyond the brand's home base, New York City. "We've had orders from Dubai, Kuwait, Canada," says Kothari. "And our only marketing is organic social media."

The ring's rise also comes at the perfect cultural moment. Pinky rings are everywhere. When Emily Ratajkowski got divorced, she split her engagement ring into two bands—one of which now lives on her pinky. Even Hailey Bieber has been spotted stacking dainty styles on hers while posing with Rhode's latest Peptide Lip Tint launches. Plus, we're living through a fashion cycle obsessed with resurfacing past trends. Just like Victorian-inspired tassel-adorned accessories have made a comeback, so too have pinky rings—once symbols of heritage, now icons of independence and women's empowerment.

In the coming months, Aaryah will expand the BB Thelma line with earrings and bracelets that echo the ring's architectural softness. And while the pinky ring may be trending now, its shape feels too classic—and the sentiment too intimate—to ever really go out of style. After all, the name Aaryah, derived from the Sanskrit word Arya, means "precious" and "rare." What's truly precious and rare never goes out of style.

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