Days of Our Lives - NEWS ROOM

If you’ve noticed the beautiful jewelry Kristian Alfonso (Hope) wears on Days of Our Lives, the pieces are more than likely from the actress’ very own collection, Hope Faith Miracles. For the past couple of years, Kristian has been hard at work designing and promoting her collection, which most recently brought her to the Bloomingdales in Chicago. I was able to grab a few moments with her (before and during her time in the Windy Cindy) to talk jewelry, clothes and of course Days of Our Lives.

Kristian has been wearing her own jewelry for years, both on and off screen, but didn’t start designing as a career until a few years ago. After countless inquiries from fans regarding where they could purchase the jewelry she wore, and one gushing fan encounter in particular, Kristian's sister suggested they develop her flair for jewelry design into a profession. She recalled that neither of them knew anything about the jewelry business, but “Little by little, one foot in front of the other, my sister, myself and my cousin started Hope Faith Miracles.”

After being introduced to the symbol as a child by her mother, Kristian uses the Fleur de lis in much of her design. “I just always thought it was so beautiful. Each petal represents something, each branch, which is how we came up with Hope Faith Miracles. There’s so many different variations of the Fleur de lis and it’s so beautiful and so feminine, but when you look at it, it has so much strength,” she explained.

Hope Faith Miracles is now a popular line on the Home Shopping Network and may soon be in a Bloomingdales near you. After being stopped in an L.A. store by a Bloomie’s rep who took note of the jewelry she was wearing, Kristian was invited to host trunk shows in Chicago, Sherman Oaks, New York, the Mall of America and others. If you aren’t familiar with the jargon (as I wasn’t), a trunk show is a trial to see how well the jewelry goes over with the public. If Kristian is successful, Hope Faith Miracles could soon be a permanent fixture in the popular department store. (Things are looking good, as Kristian let me know she had already been invited to return for another show!)

As for her inspiration, Kristian explained she gets ideas for designs from just about everywhere. “Sometimes I can be standing in line at a restaurant waiting for my table and I will be doodling on a piece of paper, or I will see something in a magazine, whether from a church or from something in the background, or I could be walking down the street and I see something and I’ll photograph it with my phone and I’ll take that and incorporate whatever it is specific that I like in that picture into a piece.”

Using rhodium plated, lead free sterling silver, her affordable line with a “gorgeous 5th Avenue look” starts at $29.95 and tops off at $195.00. Not only concerned with making her collection financially accessible to her customers, Kristian is also interested in how people react to her pieces, which is one of the reasons she was so excited about her show at Bloomingdales. “I love getting out and talking to the public about my jewelry because it really gives me an opportunity to know what they like and what they don’t like; what works and what doesn’t work,” she stated.

Aside from her jewelry collection, the entrepreneur is also busy gearing up for the launch of her clothing line under the Hope Faith Miracles name, which will be featured on the Home Shopping Network on October 28 and 29. When it comes to her clothing designs, Kristian explained, “I wanted a line for everyday. Whether you’re going to the market or you’re going to a meeting.” She also assured me that all of her knits are very soft and most importantly, made here in the U.S.

Like her jewelry, Kristian has also worn pieces of her clothing line on Days of Our Lives. If you caught the episode where Hope walked into her house to find the women of Salem ready to transform her into an elegant bride, or the episode the day before where Hope confronted Philip, you saw her wearing tops from her collection.

Since the subject of Bo and Hope’s vow renewal was brought up, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass without asking how she felt about those romantic scenes. “It was so sweet and I thought it was so beautifully written, the vows. We were talking to one another and it was real because these were things that actually happened, they weren’t invented. The dialogue, as Hope and Bo stood there, it was conversational, instead of talking at each other they were talking to each other,” she reflected. “I thought also what was so touching was that of course everyone that was in the church was in on those memories and they could share when Hope whispered into [Bo’s] ear, ‘My God I can’t believe it’s been 24 years!’ Everybody laughed because they were there.”

I also wondered how she felt about seeing clips of herself throughout the years with her many different styles and hairdos. “We all gasped,” she laughed, and then recalled thinking, “'Oh my God what a chunky monkey I was! Oh my god look at that hair! Could it be any bigger? I don’t think the screen was big enough. And Peter with that beard! My gosh!' We laugh, we enjoy, because we have so many memories.”

As for the future, Kristian is excited about what’s in store for her alter ego of over twenty years. “I love that they have Hope more involved in the police department. Even though Hope is a trust fund baby and she has all this money, which of course is how she buys all her jewels, but she tries to live within Bo’s means. I love that they’re involving her more and that she hasn’t lost her edge,” she said.

We here at Soaps.com are excited about what’s to come for Hope as well and wish Kristian much success on her jewelry and clothing lines. If you’d like to purchase some of Kristian’s jewelry you can go to the Hope Faith Miracles website, or the HSN website, just keep in mind what Kristian wants all women to know, “It’s okay to wear jewelry. You don’t have to just wear it for special occasions.”

Lori Wilson
Writer/Journalist
Soaps.com