That the accessory category is a vital component of fashion is no secret. Just ask Kenneth Cole, who built a fashion powerhouse starting with footwear.

The new Kenneth Cole Footwear + Accessory Innovation Award also makes that point. It’s the first post graduate opportunity of its kind dedicated to accessory design and social entrepreneurship, and at the 2016 CFDA Fashion Awards on June 6^th, the two winners of the inaugural award were unveiled by Steven Kolb and Heidi Klum on stage: Blake Felty of Fashion Institute of Technology and Kara Kroeger of Kent State University, who both attended the awards with Cole.

Felty, a Houston, Texas native, received a BFA in Accessories Design. For his Kenneth Cole Footwear + Accessory Innovation Award application, he submitted a collection “inspired by the vision of a long tropical vacation. I wanted a comprehensive range of styles to represent a myriad of vacationers.”

Kroeger, who hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, graduated with a BFA in Fashion Design. Her collection was “inspired by the movement of water.”

This Fall, Felty and Kroeger will begin one-year, full-time design fellowships at Kenneth Cole Productions.