West Kelowna jewelry company invited to participate in Paris Fashion Week

It is a big honour for a little business that operates out of a home studio in West Kelowna.

Carolily Finery has been invited to show their jewelry during Paris Fashion Week.

“They reached out to us, asked us if we were interested and if we would like to apply,” says Carolily co-owner Danielle Scheven, who started the company seven years ago with her mother Donna Scheven.

She says they had to go through a detailed application process.

“Showcase some of our pieces, talk more about our brand. There are hundreds of brands worldwide that all compete for this. I don’t have a final number for how many are in this show but based on last year it’s about a couple dozen,” Scheven notes.

Now the work begins to design the pieces that will be featured on the runway in Paris in October, 2023.

“We get to bring eight collections, so that’s 24 pieces. Then once we have them made there’s a coordinator and she looks at our pieces and she’ll coordinate us with the fashion designer, which is kind of exciting,” says Donna.

The duo says what sets their jewelry apart is their target customer, which is mainly women over 50.

Donna says there aren’t many companies that do that. “It’s a little brave because sometimes women over 50 aren’t the market that people are looking for.”

This isn’t the first time Carolily has been in the international spotlight. They were featured during New York Fashion Week in 2018, recently had spreads in Vanity Fair UK, Glamour UK, and have an upcoming feature in British Vogue.

The company currently has five employees, and Danielle and Donna say they might soon have to move to a larger studio space.