Lesbian fashion has a new cult accessory

Amy Spalding punctuates the end of her sentences with a rolling, drawn-out “slaaaay”. Occasionally, she’ll swap it for “daaaarling”, like Gen Z’s answer to Patsy Stone or Charlotte Tilbury. I may be several years older than the 24-year-old, but somehow, getting a “daaarling” from Amy feels like a modern-day badge of honour. 

Over the past several years, the slang that has slowly slipped into our daily vocabulary has become Amy’s livelihood. Quite literally, she has built a business on the language used by the girls and the gays: a jewellery line, SLT Studios, inspired by terms we’ve adopted or reclaimed.

Next week, she launches her latest drop of chunky silver rings, each brandishing one of the following labels: Diva, Cunt, Slut and Dyke. “It’s about being loud,” she tells me. “Pushing the cultural envelope. It’s what queer fashion has always done, so we wanted to do that. And upset a few people. My mum hates them so I know I’m doing something right.” 

Amy first stole our hearts earlier this year, when she was crowned the people’s princess after appearing on the BBC’s I Kissed A Girl back in May. The show was a roaring success and played a pivotal part in 2024’s lesbian renaissance, Amy being the standout star. Since first bursting into the Masseria wearing a mini skirt and bovver boots, she’s quickly accumulated a cult following that makes her incredibly famous in any room of queers. 

For context, when Amy attended a Doja Cat gig shortly after I Kissed A Girl had aired, she could barely move for fans pointing phones in her face. Then came London Pride, Brighton Pride and the Dyke March, where the exact same thing unfolded, causing a ricochet of ‘Amy spotted!’ messages to emerge in lesbian group chats around the country. 

Despite her recent fame, Amy’s rings had already begun to take off prior to the show. Her original dyke ring had already started creeping into queer circles, and the show’s popularity only added to demand. An idea birthed from the boredom of lockdown, Amy first began designing jewellery during the pandemic. “I have raging ADHD and it was just something I could do with my hands to keep them busy while we were all locked up. I started making spoon rings and from there I learnt a lot more about jewellery and wanted to branch out into making my own stuff from scratch,” she explains. 

The name ‘SLT Studios’ also started with her spoon rings. “I used to have a Depop which was called ‘Spooning Leads To’, which was a play on the whole ‘Spooning leads to forking’ thing, and then it kind of looked like slut too. SLT, it just kind of works.” As she puts it: “Spooning leads to dyke rings, apparently.”

Whilst developing her ring designs during lockdown, it adds up that she also spent a lot of time bingeing episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race, especially since many of the terms we use today originate from drag culture. Amy’s ‘cunt’ ring, for example, (one that her mother is particularly sour towards), refers to ‘serving cunt’, a compliment of the highest regard within the ballroom scene. 

It’s a full circle moment then that the latest campaign features Drag Race UK’s own Tayce, alongside lesbian singer Cat Burns and pop’s latest sensation Lozeak. The campaign also features a tabloid newspaper, complete with highly camp, entertaining articles, titled Dykonic Times. “With the success of the dyke ring and with the sapphic renaissance we really, truly are living in dykonic times,” says Amy. “The brand as a whole is camp meets cunt.” 

Who is on Amy’s list of dykons, I wonder? “Chappell Roan is an obvious one, she’s really leading the sapphic wave at the moment. But another one is Miriam Margoyles, she’s been so out and proud for the longest time, it’s really inspiring. She’s a freak and I love it.” 

Of course, it can’t be ignored that the word dyke originated as a derogatory, homophobic slur towards queer women. And though it has since been reclaimed by lesbians, it’s certainly not for those outside of FLINTA spheres to use. With that in mind, who exactly are Amy’s rings for? “This is an interesting question because I’ve had people who are like, ‘Can bisexuals wear the dyke ring?’ and obviously I don’t want to speak for anyone, but I think if you’re wearing a dyke ring and you’re in a hetero relationship it can be a bit confusing. That’s why we’ve come out with the other rings, because those are non-sexuality specific.” 

In short, the dyke rings are to be kept as a protected signifier for those who identify with the term dyke. For everyone else, well, you can pick between being a Diva, a Slut, or a Cunt. Naturally, being a lesbian with the surname Van Dyke, it wasn’t long into our conversation before Amy pointed out the urgency with which I need to acquire one. In fact, it’s becoming more and more necessary that lesbians develop their own, new clothing codes, as typically queer fashions infiltrate the mainstream. 

“You’ve got the classic carabiners, the mullet, the boxer shorts, the jorts, the Dr. Martens, the ties, but queer fashion has become so popular and mainstream at the moment, there is kind of a blurred line between what’s queer fashion and what’s just fashion. Everyone is dressing queer despite not being queer, which makes it exciting having these rings, they’re a definitive indicator in the sapphic world.” So there you have it. The next time you feel your gaydar being thrown off by the latest fashion trend, you need only look at a person’s knuckles. With any luck, Amy and her rings will guide your way.