Jewellery that just wants to hold your hand

At Schiaparelli’s fall/winter 2025 ready-to-wear show, Daniel Roseberry sent out a gold “hand-in-hand” ornament that made its wearer look as if they were clasping the fingers of a gleaming, otherworldly lover cast in brass. Doja Cat even wore it to the front row, her own fingers interlaced with the sculptural double. It was camp, couture, and a reminder that the most interesting jewellery in 2025 isn’t dangling from your ears or circling your wrist—it’s staking its claim to the back of your hand.

Part sculpture, part adornment, palm cuffs aren’t bracelets and they aren’t rings. They sit on the back of the hand on the metacarpals, gripping the sides like an exoskeleton, turning every handshake, toast or gesture into a piece of performance art. Unlike bracelets, which politely orbit the wrist, or rings, which decorate a single finger, palm cuffs take over the whole stage, making them instant conversation-starters.

The Lebanese jewellery house Yeprem arguably owns the category’s most recognisable silhouette: The Claw. A diamond-encrusted talon that clutches the hand, it’s the kind of piece you wear when subtlety is not the goal. Panconesi, meanwhile, makes streamlined ‘hand bracelets’ in gold and silver that take the silhouette into everyday territory; for dressier occasions, there’s one set with zircons. Paris-based Hugo Kreit goes pop-art with enamel flower cuffs in glossy finishes. Barcelona’s Suot Studio arranges its gemstones to create ombré arcs, like its Half Cut Fumée cuff in quartz and citrine. (Singer Karol G chose their plain metal version for the 2024 VMAs.) In India, Suhani Pittie’s gold-plated leaves splay across the palm like a vine, while Bhavya Ramesh’s Predator is a skeletal outline that grips the hand without a wrist link, marrying traditional craft with punk edge.

This fixation on the hand’s upper real estate isn’t new. In the Indian subcontinent, the haath phool—a bridal hand harness connecting finger rings to a bracelet—has been worn for centuries. Contemporary designers are reworking it for modern wardrobes, creating versions than can be worn with jeans and a T-shirt. Outhouse’s version has pearl strands and tiny birds, ready for a garden party. Lune’s is all linked metal and cool industrial attitude. In Los Angeles, Jacquie Aiche’s “finger bracelets” have become a celebrity talisman, beloved by the likes of Rihanna and the Hadids.

Then there’s the knuckleduster, an equally radical rethink of how jewellery interacts with the hand. Instead of sitting neatly on one finger, these span two, three or four, creating a single architectural form across the back of the palm. For those who want visual drama but not a palm cuff that interrupts handshakes, they’re a sleek halfway point. The Line makes theirs in pavé diamonds; and in London, Clio Saskia coils a gold snake across the knuckles.

What unites these designs—whether palm cuff, hand harness, or knuckleduster—is that they shift jewellery’s focal point, pulling the gaze away from the usual ring finger or bracelet stack and drawing attention to a new spot. At a time when maximalism is back and body adornment is creeping into new territories—courtesy ear climbers and nail rings—the back of the hand has become jewellery’s latest frontier. And like all good frontiers, it’s making people talk. Which, for jewellery this bold, is exactly the point.