Deschain: Style Gone Social Final Challenge

The economy may be perpetually stuck in the gutter, but fashion and trends stop for no man. How can one keep pace with the style drum when you're living paycheck to paycheck? Danielle Guercio of Deschain has a few ideas. For starters, she sees the idea of irregularity in fashion gaining serious momentum. "People are beginning to shy away from cookie cutter designs," she says. "As consumers demand transparency and accountability from retailers, they are broadening their horizons to include independent designers.  Their closets are shrinking with their wallets, and individuality is hard to curate in a big box marketplace." That bigger-is-better thinking may work for some corporations, but Deschain champions everything those stores neglect including being a small self-sustained business with an eye to individuality and eco-design. "If you are conscious about price but seeking style, you have already taken a step away from the pack," Guercio says.  "Why not then patronize someone who's pieces are reborn from discarded items, taking $5 worth of materials and putting $1000 worth of care and old fashioned hand work into them?  Community is the only way to lift each other out of mundane and debilitating culture that comes out of excess."

Guercio admits that the 2012 Must Have Accessory Challenge did push her and force her to step outside her regular process. "Choices were nearly paralyzed by the price point," she says.  "I have very few items that are under twenty-five dollars, because so much work, time, and love goes into my pieces.  Everything I make is completed by my own hands from sketching to packaging.  I really had to think hard about what I could design that would meet all these requirements, be highly marketable, but most importantly still represent not only Deschain's aesthetic, but ethics."

It may not have been easy, but it's safe to say Guercio's Ital Necklace meets all the challenge's criteria and then some. The piece was actually inspired by something Guercio originally used to make in high school, a cord that was crocheted then strung with buttons to create a dramatic draped necklace. Each piece is completely unique and constructed of one recycled t-shirt. "The necklace's appearance alone makes it a bold outfit-completer," Guercio says.  "Even jeans and a t-shirt are spiced up by the chunky texture and intricate design."

Not only that, but the idea also had a little something to do with her remaining competitors. "To prove my versatility, I took on Hena et Daniel one on one by creating neckwear," Guercio says. It'll be up to you to see who wins out in the end, but one thing's for certain; it's bound to be a great match up.