CAROLEE Announces Design Competition With FIT Jewelry Design Students

CAROLEE Announces Winners of Year-Long Design Competition With FIT Jewelry Design Students

Fashion jewelry company CAROLEE announced the winners of its year-long jewelry design competition with the Fashion Institute of Technology as part of the company's 40th anniversary celebration.

Under the guidance of the FIT Jewelry Design Department and the professional design team at CAROLEE, students began the design process last September and presented their final designs for judging in the Spring. Students competed in four key categories: Pearls, Metals, Fashion, and Bridal/Social. A fifth "People's Choice" winner was voted online through a Facebook contest.

The winners are...

Palwasha Iqbal in the Fashion category:

Yoonji Choi in the Pearls category: 

Prakshi Sharma in the Social/Bridal category: 

Christine Gonzalez in the Metals category:  

Elyse Spencer as the People's Choice winner:

In addition to winning $1000 apiece, all five winners' jewelry designs have been manufactured by CAROLEE and are making their debut in major US and international department stores in the Fall. The FIT students' winning collections will also be featured extensively in advertising and in top fashion and lifestyle publications in the fall.

The collections will make their official debut at a special event on the first floor at Bloomingdale's 59th Street on September 13th. Students will meet with Bloomingdale’s VIPs, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and press, and their pieces will be shown in Bloomingdale's windows for two weeks. For each piece of the FIT winning designs sold, CAROLEE will donate $5 to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. CAROLEE will also officially announce an ongoing Jewelry Design Scholarship at FIT to support the future development of 21st century jewelry design.

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