Nicole Richie Named "Influencer of the Year" at Accessories Awards Ceremony

Nicole Richie has been honored earlier this week at the ACE Awards for Accessories Excellence. In a ceremony on Monday night in NYC, Richie was honored with the “Influencer of the Year” award following the success of her accessories-only brand “House of Harlow 1960” and “Winter Kate” her clothing and accessories range.

The Ace awards stands for the Accessories Council Excellence Awards and was created in 1996 to pay homage to individuals and groups who’ve made great strides in the accessories industry, “The purpose of the awards is to celebrate those who have had a positive impact on accessory consumption during the prior year,” according to a statement on the ACE website.

As the creative director at House of Harlow 1960, Nicole Richie picked up her award in style. She wore a black gown with plunging neckline by Antonio Berardi and held onto a House of Harlow clutch. However, despite this being an awards ceremony for accessories, she paired the black dress with only a ring and some demure earrings.

John Varvatos presented the award to Richie and described her as “beautiful, sexy, with a wicked sense of humor and a great sense of style.”

Despite morphing from Paris Hilton’s sidekick to a true style icon, Richie says she wasn’t always that way. Talking to WWD she told the mag, “When I was a little girl my mom used to always get us matching dresses for everything. So I was wearing the poufy skirt version of whatever my mom was wearing, and I had the worst, hairiest eyebrows and a big afro. That was before I allowed to use a flatiron.”

She also adds that since she’s a mom to 3 year-old daughter Harlow and 2 year-old son Sparrow she says she’s “still wearing five-inch heels. My fashion really hasn’t changed at all.”

Other fashion icons and big names at the awards even included model Agyness Deyn, Queen Latifah, Cynthia Nixon from “Sex and the City,” and Christian Louboutin who presented an award that evening.

Full list of winners at the 2011 ACE Awards:

Hall of Fame: Temple St. Clair
E-Tailer: HSN
Magazine of the Year: Marie Claire
Visionary: Robert Marc
Breakthrough Award: Rebecca Minkoff
Business Visionary: Frank Fialkoff of Miriam Haskell
Designer of the Year: Philip Treacy
Brand Launch: Marchesa
Influencer Award: Nicole Richie
Mary Lou Luther Award for Fashion Journalism: Kate Betts