Accessories Council Reveals Winners of 2023 Design Excellence Awards
The fifth annual awards ceremony recognizes outstanding products across handbags, eyewear, footwear, jewelry and other categories.
The Accessories Council hosted its fifth annual Design Excellence Awards Wednesday night at Fashionphile, recognizing outstanding products across handbags, eyewear, footwear and jewelry.
The night's top award, the Hall of Fame Award, was given to footwear brand Lucchese to recognize its 140th anniversary. The Circana Top Item Award went to the Marc Jacobs The Tote Bag. The award recognizes the top dollar volume item that has seen the strongest recovery since 2020 per the company's data. The FashionGo Best of Best Award went to BrunnaCo, a California-based brand that produces ethically created accessories. The prize for brand collaboration went to Stuart Weitzman x Aknvas for its ruffle bootie.
For handbags, the top prize for styles more than $1,000 went to Shinola for its Detroit Overnight Satchel, while the prize for styles less than $1,000 went to Brahmin for the Caroline in Black Nerina.
In the eyewear category, there was a tie for top optical accessory, with the award going to Eyewear by David Beckham and Vogue Eyewear. For sunglasses, the award went to Lanvin.
In the footwear category, the prize for top style more than $250 went to Veronica Beard for its Vesper Tall Shaft Boot Wide Calf, while the prize for top style less than $250 went to Merrell for its MTL X Reese Cooper sneaker.
For jewelry, there was a tie for top fashion jewelry accessory, with the award going to Nadri for its “Rock Stars” Ombre Blue Chandelier Earrings as well as Brosway Italia for its Chakra Bracelet. For top fine jewelry style, the award went to Lagos for its Smart Caviar Lux bracelet.
Other awards include the General Accessories award, which went to Wallaroo Hat for its Talum Artisanal Hat; the Tech &
Innovation award, which went to Shed Rain for its Vortex V2 Umbrella; the Social Impact Award, which went to Freida Rothman for its Women of Strength Bracelet, and the Sustainability award, which went to Piper & Sky for its Lola Crossbody.
The Design Excellence Awards winners are decided by consumer votes from a pool of finalists decided by the Accessories Council board of directors. Finalists were chosen based off robust criteria that included excellence in design, uniqueness, function, consumer need, innovation and other requirements.