British Vogue readers associated with Saint Michael’s college may have noticed a well -known business name in some recent issues.
Francesca d’Ilia ’20 (Francesca d’Elia decency)
Homegrown Jewelry, a small business created by Francesca d’Ilia ’20, appeared in the December, January and February numbers Vogue as one of their “jewelery stylist profiles” along with jewelry designers from it the whole world.
D’Elia graduated in business administration and minor in economics while she was in Saint Michael’s, but her passion for jewelry began long before the college.
D’Alia began making jewelry in high school as Christmas gifts. She said she has always gained inspiration from which types of jewelry would wear her friends. She eventually began to enter her jewelry at local craft fairs in Vermont.
“I did my first craft show when I was a high school in high school … and I remember I was just terrified to sell anything, and literal I was asked about what I was doing, ”D’Elia said. “And now looking back, that’s like, very funny, because now I like 10 plus shows exactly in the holiday season.”
D’Elia officially named her business “Household Jewish” as she began selling her creations to more people.
“Homegrown really a kind of stuck,” D’Elia said. “I honestly didn’t even mind the other names. Just felt good because I was going out, at that moment, outside my bedroom, and it had a really great focus, always on nature and patterns by nature.”
‘Jewelry Girl’
As D’Elia entered her first year at Saint Michael College – following the steps of her parents and three sisters, who are all alums – she thought it would be too busy to keep her business at work. However, this changed as she told her friends about the jewelry of the house, and they insisted that she had a “market” before the winter break.
A ring and bracelet designed by Homegrown Jewelry, owned by Francesca d’Ilia ’20, was one of the models featured in British Vogue in early 2025 (Francesca d’Ilia)
“The first year of first year in my bedroom in Ryan (Hall), we organized a two-hour purchase of jewelery,” D’Elia said. She added, “For the next four years, I was the daughter of jewelry.”
D’Elia said she felt extremely supported by her peers all the time in Saint Michael’s, and this encouragement gave her a lot of confidence as her business was raised after graduation.
D’Elia also made her professors aware of her jewelry business early in Saint Michael’s, and this allowed her to use her jewelry business to complete the subjects and projects, she said.
“I’ve been able to get everything we learned in the classroom and very directly to apply it for what I was doing in my business that year,” she said.
D’Elia said business professors Karen Popovich and Paul Olsen were particularly supportive as she was navigating Homegrown’s role in the business field, making herself available for business advice and providing instructions while her business grew up.
For her latest project during her old year in Saint Michael’s, D’Elia displayed her jewelry at Vermont Marketplace.
“A bunch of my professors came and it was like, so nice to know that I had that support,” she said.
En Vogue in British Vogue
Now, five years after graduation, D’Elia is seeing even more success after appearing in British Vogue.
“The first issue was released in mid -November,” D’Elia said. “I had known about it since the beginning of October, and I didn’t tell anyone because I knew it was happening, but it had 1% of me that was like, it feels like a joke.”
Homegrown Jewelry, a company founded and led by Francesca d’Ilia ’20, appeared in British Vogue for three consecutive months in the late 2024th and initially designers from around the world (home jewelry are in the left end) . (Credit: British Vogue)
D’Elia was aware of the parts she presented to appear in the magazine and said she approached her artistically, including a facial ring, large flower earrings with a pearl in the middle, and technical pieces with a ring and one bracelet.
“All three of those parts just felt like they were going and I felt like that I wanted to represent the brand as a whole,” she said.
In the light of the latest D’Ilia in British Vogue, she said she is particularly grateful for the success of home jewelry – and the people who helped her reach her at this point.
“It was definitely a moment when I as a kind of how I sat down and recalled in the 11 full years of business management,” she said.