This year’s judges included style reporter and fashion icon, Lynn Yaeger, writer and arbiter of style, Kareem Rashed, the incomparable designer, Silvia Furmanovich, and two incredibly passionate retailers with impeccable taste, Liebe Gamble of June Simmons and Yael Reinhold Lipnik of Reinhold Jewelers. While aligned in terms of a shared passion for jewelry and design, these judges have very different personal aesthetics, and most of them had never met prior to seeing each other in the judges’ room on Wednesday morning however, the group quickly fell into a rhythm of exchanging opinions and discussing the minutia of each piece.

While the minimal staff that are allowed into the judging room are sworn to secrecy so that the judges can speak freely, I feel confident that what I’m disclosing here is evident in the final selections, and that is that this group of judges tended to award risk taking. In the Best in Bridal category, while they didn’t take home the top prize, the judges applauded Campbellian Collection for entering a pair of dramatic drop earrings; they determined that in addition to being beautiful, it was a bold move to enter earrings into what is traditionally a ring-centric category. While the winning piece was a ring, the gold and diamond piece by Retrouvai was anything but expected!

In the highly-competitive Best in Gold category, the judges awarded Mariani with the win; they felt the edginess of the blackened gold and diamond earrings stood out amidst the beautiful warmth of yellow gold that is usually submitted into the category. Shimansky, who was making their COUTURE debut, placed third in Best in Gold with a piece that included rose, white and yellow gold, which the judges determined was a daring choice. (Buddha Mama placed second in the category with a 22k gold “charm” necklace.)

Across the board, from the gold fan submitted by Lotus Arts de Vivre, which took home first place in the Best in Haute Couture category, to Elsa Jin’s incredibly dramatic Life 2022 brooch that took 3^rd in Haute Couture and 1^st in Best in Debuting, theatrics were the order of the day during the COUTURE Design Awards judging process. Undertaking the task of judging is painstaking, and requires hours of our judges’ time, consideration and care. Ultimately, the finalists and winners in each category represent our unique panel’s take on what it means to be “Best of…” in 2021 and this year’s resounding message was, in the words of Goethe, “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.”