CFDA Shows the Love to Jewelry Designer Pamela Love

by 66mint Fine Estate Jewelry June 06, 2013

This was Love's third nomination for the award, which celebrates emerging talent on the fashion scene in the categories of womenswear, menswear and accessories. Other 2013 Swarovski honorees included womenswear winner Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty for Suno, and menswear winner Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne for Public School. Love joins an impressive cadre of past Swarovski Awards winners--a veritable "Who's Who" of today's fashion industry stars--including Alexander Wang, Joseph Altuzarra, Tabitha Simmons and Phillip Lim, who took home the 2013 overall title of Accessories Designer of the Year for 3.1 Phillip Lim. Other big winners of the night included Menswear Designer of the Year, Thom Browne, and Womenswear Designer of the Year, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler. Vera Wang received the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, while Oscar de la Renta was granted the Founder's Award by Senator Clinton herself.

Recognized for its diversity of influence, Love's work has been inspired by everything from American folklore to world architecture, while maintaining a distinctive amalgam of seemingly contrasting elements like spirituality, whimsy and power. Her use of materials--from resin to leather--add unexpected drama. Love's iconic personal style is almost as celebrated as her jewelry; she is known throughout the industry for being a vision in vintage--whether in faded Levi's or a flowing maxi dress with lace up boots. In fact, before foraying into the world of jewelry design, Love ran her own vintage clothing and accessories store. 

Love's belief in the emotional weight of jewelry doesn't just show in her stunning designs. Her own jewelry collection delightfully muddles the old with the new. Love freely intermingles bold pieces from her current collection with estate jewelry and vintage items of extraordinary significance, such as a "mazel"-monogrammed, antique necklace she inherited from her grandmother, or the infinitesimal pinky ring her father gave to her as a young child. -

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