Dungloe woman Louise Breslin won an Xposé Fafinder Award for her incredible accessories earlier this week.
The XFA awards were established to celebrate the very best of independent fashion retail.
The awards ceremony was hosted by Glenda Gilson and took place at The Dean Hotel in Dublin.
Louise with Sonya Lennon and Glenda Gilson
A panel of judges whittled down the thousands of entries to three finalists for each category, with the public voting for the winner.
In the accessories category, the three finalists were Laveesha, Willow & Clo, and Beloved.
Louise set up Laveesha two years ago, which is an online costume jewellery and gift boutique.
Speaking to Donegal Woman, Louise described how the competition was extremely close, “Willow & Clo are fabulous designers inspired by nature. Beloved were also massive competition as they have their own brick and mortar stores.”
Louise set up Laveesha two years ago, however it was last summer when she revamped the site and took a marketing course.
“Last summer I broke my leg so I couldn’t work in the lab. I turned that time into something positive by focusing on Laveesha and redone the website and completed a marketing course.
The judges chose Louise for the final as due to her “fantastic contemporary, very accessible jewellery site.”
Louise’s entry was her fabulous Maya statement necklace, which is embellished with black and diamante jewels.
Upon receiving her award from Glenda, Louise said “I came into this as a project, I’m a scientist by day and I’m just over the moon!”
The other category winners included; Pandanee Weddings for Best Bridal, Dolly & Bella for Best Online, Monaghan Cashmere for Best Contemporary, Siopella for Best Vintage, and The Design Centre for Best Occasion.
Louise, third from the left, with the other winners.
The competition is run by fafinder, which is an app developed my Brendan Courtney and Sonya Lennon in which the user can upload a description of what they would like, and have the 200 boutiques subscribed to the app search it out.
This is not the first time Donegal has been well represented in the awards, with McElhinney’s winning Best Bridal in 2016.
To check out what else Louise has on her website you can follow this link:
https://laveesha.myshopify.com/
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