NEW YORK--The 2015 The Accessories Council Excellence (ACE) Awards were held Monday, Nov. 2, 2015 at Cipriani 42nd St, here.
The ACE Awards were created in 1997 to pay homage to individuals and groups that have made great strides in raising the awareness of the accessories industry. The purpose of the awards gala is to celebrate those who have had a positive impact on accessory consumption during the prior year.
Awards are given to designers, retailers, journalists, celebrities and emerging companies. Honorees this year included Ariel Foxman, editor-in-chief of InStyle Magazine with the Marylou Luther Journalism Award; Ivanka Trump, real estate developer and entrepreneur with the Breakthrough Award; Claudio Gottardi, president and CEO of Marchon Eyewear with the Leadership Award; Mitchells with the Specialty Retailer Award; Moda Operandi with the Retail Innovation Award; Nancy Gonzalez with the Innovation Award, Swarovski with the Legacy Award, jewelry designer Eddie Borgo with the Evolution Award, John Varvatos with the Designer of the Year Award and Taraji P. Henson and Empire costume designer Paolo Nieddu with Influencer Awards.
Honorees are nominated and voted upon by their peers in the accessory industry, retailers, the Accessories Council Board of Directors and the fashion press.
Click through for pictures of the night.
2015 ACE Awards
The 19th Annual ACE Awards are the hallmark event for the Accessory Council which serves the $50 billion a year accessories industry
2015 ACE Awards
(L-R) Lacoste North America’s Joelle Grunberg, VSP’s Rob Lynch, honoree Ivanka Trump, Marchon Eyewear’s Claudio Gottardi, and Calvin Klein’s Ulrich Grimm.
2015 ACE Awards
Luxottica Group’s Ed Jankowski (l) with Ira Greenhouse of Safilo Group.
2015 ACE Awards
LuxotticaGroup’s Holly Rush, Laurent Boury and Stephanie DiClemente.
2015 ACE Awards
Mark Ugenti (l) and Glenn Rusk of Safilo Group.
2015 ACE Awards
FGX International’s Corinne McCormick and Ilori's Michael Yount.
2015 ACE Awards
Marchon’s Claudio Gottardi (r), who was later presented his Leadership Award by his son, Matteo Gottardi (c), with Mark Ginsberg, also of Marchon (l).
2015 ACE Awards
(L-R) Marchon’s Chris Pendergast, VSP Vision Care’s Kate Renwick-Espinosa, VSP’s Heather McHale and Marchon’s Joe Paek.
2015 ACE Awards
The Accessory Council’s Karen Giberson and Frank Zambrelli.
2015 ACE Awards
Fashion icon, Iris Apfel (r) presented the Legacy Award to Swarovski’s Nadja Swarovski (l).
2015 ACE Awards
Designer Carolina Herrera (l) presented Ivanka Trump with her Breakthrough Award.
2015 ACE Awards
(L-R) Paolo Nieddu, costume designer for the show Empire, and it’s star, Taraji P. Henson, were presented their Influencer Awards by designer Alexander Wang.
2015 ACE Awards
(L-R) The Vision Council’s Angela Harar and Dick Russo, with Val Scott of Vision Expo/Reed and Steve Horowitz and Gilda Mehraban from REM Eyewear.
2015 ACE Awards
John Varvatos receiving his ACE Award for Designer of the Year, the first time it has been bestowed on a menswear brand, from actress Gina Gershon.