West Kelowna residents Danielle (left) and Donna Scheven showcased their jewelry line at Paris Fashion Week.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Carolily

A mother and daughter with a jewelry business in West Kelowna found themselves in Europe earlier this month watching as their collections were showcased on the Paris Fashion Week runway.

“It was surreal, there were so many pinch-me moments, it’s hard to find the words to describe it,” Danielle Scheven said.

Donna Scheven and her daughter Danielle have been designing and crafting classic and elegant pieces of jewelry for their business called Carolily since 2015. They showed a collection on a New York runway in 2019, but Paris was the first international debut and holds even more significance for them.

They were invited to Paris Fashion Week by a PR and production team called Flying Solo after their namesake Carolily necklace was featured in British Vogue, but they still had to go through an application process.

“There were hundreds of applications from around the world,” Danielle said. “We had to send a portfolio and wait for three weeks. When we found out we were accepted it was unbelievable, I went to check the production company to make sure they were real.”

Danielle said in previous fashion shows her company was paired with a designer right away, but for the Paris show there were no design boundaries given and her mom “ran wild and did what she wanted” in creating the runway collection.

A model wearing jewelry from Carolily in West Kelowna walks the runway at Paris Fashion Week.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Carolily/Frank Rivers

When the pair and their team arrived in Paris they had a dress rehearsal.

“We set up our display of jewelry, there were nine other jewelry brands set up along with handbag and shoe brands,” she said. “Fashion designers arrived two at a time and walked around talking with everyone, figuring out what would pair best. I compared it to waiting to be picked for dodgeball, it was nerve wracking.”

They were paired with a fashion brand called Silk Epoque by Olga Zieman which “could not have been a more perfect pairing” with “feminine, classic necklines,” Danielle said. When the models walked the runway, she said it was “very surreal.”

“I was just watching my mom’s designs walk the runway and hearing people 'ooh-ing' and 'ah-ing' over the jewelry,” she said. “It was in the most beautiful building, classy and elegant which is very in line with our brand. When you think of Parisian fashion it’s so chic and beyond what we do in North America.”

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Danielle and her mom created Carolily as a way to amplify self-love and celebrate self-expression through statement jewelry. The team is composed entirely of women from production to photography to administration.

The company name is a combination of Donna's mother and grandmother’s names.

“They were strong, proud English women who had a huge impact on my mom growing up,” she said. “Mom remembers wearing her grandma’s heels and pearls and lipstick. We try to honour them with a loving company where the love has been passed down from mother to daughter for four generations.”

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While some of Carolily’s Paris Collection has already sold, the remaining sets are available for purchase here, along with more moderate collections. A new holiday collection is launching this week.

The team at Carolily plans to continue expanding across Canada and create partnerships with retailers in the United Kingdom.

— This article was corrected at 11:48 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, to correct spelling of Danielle and Donna Scheven's surname and correct spelling of their company's. 

— This article was adjusted at 12:17 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, to provide the correct link to the company's website. 

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