{"id":14202,"date":"2012-01-27T01:48:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T06:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=14202"},"modified":"2012-01-29T19:13:14","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T00:13:14","slug":"im-a-fashion-group-international-rising-star-award-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/im-a-fashion-group-international-rising-star-award-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m a Fashion Group International Rising Star Award Winner!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was great to be a finalist<\/a> for Fashion Group International<\/a>‘s Rising Star Award for fine jewelry last year, but it was even better to win the 2012 award yesterday<\/a>! The fact that gorgeous designer<\/a>\/blogger<\/a> Stacy Lomman was also a finalist in the women’s ready-to-wear category<\/a> this year was a bonus.\u00a0 I wouldn’t have been involved with Rising Star if it weren’t for Stacy, so I was happy she was being recognized too. I was excited to pay tribute to her (and to you other bloggers) from the stage. This was my little speech:<\/p>\n

“This is a huge honor.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you to Fashion Group International for supporting independent and emerging designers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks also to my family, friends, customers, colleagues and the many fashion bloggers who have supported me for years.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ll mention just two people by name. My husband Paul Steiger who got me interested in jewelry and now keeps a roof over my head while I pursue my dream.<\/em><\/p>\n

And one of today’s women’s wear finalists — Stacy Lomman — who first told me about the Rising Star awards, nominated me AND made the dress I’m wearing right now. Without her I’d be sitting at home today, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt<\/a>. Special thanks to Stacy.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, that was what I wrote in advance — just in case — and I mostly stuck to the script, but I have a vague memory of blurting, “OH MY GOD!” into the microphone before I said anything else.<\/p>\n

The beautiful red peplum<\/a> dress that Stacy made for me for the awards was a surprise. She had it nearly all done before she had me stop by her place for a fitting.\u00a0 I thought I was just going to borrow one of her old samples! She made herself an asymmetric blue top a couple of days before the event. We both wore my jewelry. Here we are with my award right after the ceremony.<\/p>\n

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All the finalists got a corsage to wear.<\/p><\/div>\n

This wasn’t Stacy’s year to win, but, as she said to me for my recent Huffington Post story<\/a> on the challenges of small business, her nomination proves she’s someone to watch, only 18 months after launching her line. (My first nomination came after five years in business.) Fashion Group International encourages finalists to try, try again. Many winners get their awards after multiple nominations, so I have no doubt Stacy will have her moment. I’m also sure we’ll see more of the other fine-jewelry finalists: sisters Amaia and Yolanda Torrubia of Torrubia & Torrubia<\/a>, and Jessica Kagan Cushman<\/a>. All three ladies were delightful. Stacy and I took a picture with the Torrubias.<\/p>\n

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After the awards, we had more good news: with a couple of days left to go, Stacy is only $150 away from raising enough money on Kickstarter to pay for her Fall 2012 runway show. If you want to help make up the difference and make the show possible …<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Much love to gorgeous blogger Susan of Style Made by Hand<\/a> for getting Stacy to this level.<\/p>\n

I’ll have more pictures of my Stacy Lomman dress and my awards-ceremony guests — MrB, GeorgeB and the lovely Christine — in the next post.<\/p>\n

UPDATED TO ADD NEWS LINKS:<\/p>\n