Fashion Friday: Arabesque Jewelry

In theory, I absolutely love beautiful accessories. I think they can take a simple outfit and completely transform it into something incredible. In practice, I'm a bit of a mess. My earrings get tangled in my hair. Bracelets slide up and down my arms. Necklaces make my neck itch. I want to wear fabulous jewelry all the time, but inevitably whatever I put on in the morning ends up in the bottom of my purse by lunchtime. 

When I first began competing in pageants, I didn't realize the importance of having the perfect jewelry pieces to compliment your wardrobe both on and off the stage. I would haphazardly match whatever pieces I had laying around in my bedroom and hope for the best. My choices have improved since then, and this year, I made my best jewelry decision yet for both the local and state pageant stage: working with Arabesque Jewelry on some custom pieces.

When I first purchased my dream dress in January, I knew that such a showstopping gown would require fantastic accessories. Working with the mother-daughter duo behind Arabesque, Carolyn and Kristen, these beautiful earrings and matching bracelet came to life:

Carolyn and I worked together by phone and by text, and it was such a fun experience! She is such a pro at design, sending sketches, stone options, and explaining the jewelry creation process from start to finish. 

I think they looked perfect!

When it came time to prepare for Miss New York, I knew I wanted to work with Arabesque again to create the perfect earrings to match my talent gown. The only problem? Well, I didn't know exactly what my talent gown was going to look like (more on that in next week's Fashion Friday post). I reached out to Carolyn with only about two weeks to spare before Miss New York and sent her a picture of the fabric swatches from my gown:

I had an idea of what my gown would look like, so from that idea we discussed some design ideas and Carolyn sent me some bead colors to consider:

And in one weekend, she had created the beautiful earrings I wore on stage for the talent competition:

I cannot say enough positive things about working with Arabesque Jewelry. Carolyn and Kristen are a class act, and it is so easy to see why so many Miss America contestants come to them to create exquisite pieces that are worthy of a crown!

Carolyn and Kristen, thank you SO much for being part of my journey as Miss Empire Star! Your jewelry has helped me sparkle on stage, but your kind hearts and encouragement throughout this process have lifted my spirit off the stage as well.