Muchacha LA
“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”
Meet Danielle Boyce. A freshman from Burbank, California, Danielle is already establishing her place within the USC community, a place marked by colorful, fuzzy balls of yarn. Her fashion brand, Muchacha Los Angeles, is all about making a statement — statement earrings, that is. Danielle’s handmade earrings, starting at $9.99 a pair, are all about making people’s heads turn; she wholeheartedly believes that statement earrings can change your world. She talked about the relationship between clothing and self-perception, recalling a study in which undergraduate students were split into two groups and given a white lab coat; one group was told that it was a doctor’s coat, and the other group was told that it was a painter’s coat. The group wearing what they believed to be a doctor’s coat performed significantly better on an incongruence test than the latter group, underscoring the weight that clothing has on our perception of ourselves. Danielle likens these earrings to a doctor’s coat; after all, if you are already putting yourself out there with your earrings, what’s stopping you from being adventurous in other parts of your life?
“Grow a pair and wear a pair.”
A love of fashion runs through Danielle’s blood; her aunt is a fashion designer, and her grandmother handcrafts dolls. Her exposure to such a world began as a young child, as her aunt would regularly bring her along on her trips to the Fashion District. At age 8, Danielle got her very first sewing machine — and the rest is history. She began to make her very own clothes, and today she works off of commission — she designs and creates custom-made pieces for other USC students. Through her work, she found the funding necessary to finally lift Muchacha off of the ground in June.
Now that Muchacha has gained momentum, Danielle is turning her focuses on an omnipresent issue within the fashion industry: ethically sourced materials. Originally buying yarn on Amazon and earrings from Michaels, she is now investing money into cruelty-free, eco-friendly, ethically sourced materials. Danielle runs her brand always keeping optimism in mind; she believes that making a difference in just one person’s life is enough to create a domino effect around the world. Whatever project she’s working on, she believes that the most important thing is to always remain kind. “Optimism requires action. If you want to be optimistic, you also have to be willing to put in the effort to get to that rose colored pool.”
Keep an eye out for her new line of earrings, launched every four weeks!
Website: muchachala.com
Instagram: @muchacha.la
