Le Fash: Fashions in the Fast Lane - Sidelines Magazine

eFashionKarina Brez’sCrowning AchievementBy Dani MoritzKarina’s logo, a butterfly ina crown, symbolizes beauty,femininity and royalty.Karina Brez wasn’t born in the saddle. In fact, horses enteredher life only three years ago when she became involved with herfriend’s nonprofit organization, Horses Healing Hearts (HHH), asan ambassador and honorary chair.She became involved with the organization after her friend wasmurdered by her alcoholic husband, leaving her friend’s orphanedchild behind. Little did she know how much the organization wouldimpact her life.For Karina, her involvement with HHH meant an opportunity tomake a difference and gave her a chance to interact with horses.“I always loved horses, I just never had the opportunity to ridethem,” she said. “That’s the reason I moved to Wellington.” Andsoon, helping with fundraising and working at the barn on theweekends became much more than a way to volunteer. It becameher inspiration.Karina combined her newfound love of horses and her passionfor gemology to create an equine collection as part of her KarinaBrez jewelry line, which debuted in 2010. In return, Karina givesa percentage of the proceeds from her equestrian pieces back toHHH. “I’m always trying to raise money for HHH,” she said. “It’s agreat charity and I don’t know where these kids would be withoutit.”While Karina may be relatively new to horses, she has a longhistory with jewelry. Actually, she is a third generation jeweler.Her parents immigrated to the United States from Ukraine in 1989and her dad started working with Tiffany & Co., doing repairsand assembling jewelry, later opening his own stores. Her dadcurrently owns a store, Alex Jewelry, in Boca Raton, Florida atthe International Jewelers Exchange. Karina worked at her dad’sstore as a young adult and later became a graduate gemologistthrough the Gemologist Institute of America.Today, Karina has created her own jewelry line, which includesequestrian pieces and other items such as engagement rings,wedding bands and fashion jewelry.And while she gets a lot of inspiration from working with horses,her collections are also inspired by the French countryside – eventhough Karina jokes that she’s only been there once. “I just wentKarina and Argento at Horses Healing Hearts sponsor barnDouble J.Photos courtesy of Karina Brezthere one summer with my mom and I fell in love with the Frenchcountryside,” she said.Even her logo, a butterfly in a crown, reflects her love for theromance of France while symbolizing beauty, femininity androyalty. The crown also represents a special chapter in her life –being named the 2012 Miss Florida USA.The concept for the logo came about when Karina was tryingto create a “B” for her last name and stumbled upon the idea ofa butterfly. “In a way, I want my jewelry to represent the stagesof life, like a butterfly goes through,” she said. “I also want myjewelry to be something that people can keep for a time and thenpass onto their children, so it can become a keepsake for futuregenerations.”To create jewelry that people truly value, Karina gives specialattention to each of her pieces. She handpicks stones from allaround the world and is always the last one to approve an item.When working on her equestrian jewelry, Karina emphasizes theindividuality of horses and expresses horses’ unique personalitiesin her equestrian collection.She also offers the option for customers to send in images oftheir horses, so that she can customize pieces with a specifichorse in mind. “I can create a piece of jewelry that they can keepand remember their horse by for years and years.”If you are interested in Karina’s jewelry line, you can visit herwebsite at karinabrez.com or catch her at her booth at next year’sWEF.A piece from Karina’s Equestrian Collection.About the writer: Dani Moritz is a graduate of William Woods University withmajors in Equine General Studies and Communications. She is a staff writer forSidelines Magazine, freelance journalist and proud owner of a beautiful Paint/Arabian mare named September. She is also the 2012 American Horse PublicationsStudent Award winner.92 SIDELINES AUGUST 2013 FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE