Skank Chic is a Fashion Accessory and Art House ( I am one person) producing couture, high fashion accessories, ready to wear handmade bangles, and luxury made mundane objects. The brand blends posh and punk, street and high fashion, in one unique world. The current collection was executed within the year 2024, independently funded by the twenty-two year old designer, Mary Joyce. The collection reflects both the designers heritage and personal philosophy/relationship to fashion. 

Mary Joyce is a second generation immigrant, bloodlined to the Luo tribe in Kenya. Animal imagery, horns, feathers, hair, studs and sharp shapes are found throughout the collection. Skank Chic whispers ‘clothing is armor’, as a tribute to Luo warriors, a personal belief, and an ode to the designer's late mother. There is also a preppy undertone to the collection. Little pillbox hats, meant to be worn at the derby or afternoon tea. Mary Joyce was sent to boarding school in Connecticut when she was 16, where she encountered clothing as status. Prep fashion is a major influence in the designs, but as a means to disrupt its cleanliness. There is also a bit of irony with Skank Chic. Mary Joyce posts her poetry on her instagram and website, often discussing social taboos, sex, and capitalism. Bangles with money, so close but unable to touch. Encased pills, worn on the sleeve. Accessories that edge on kink wear. There is a greater conversation within the fashion of Skank Chic, but also direct reflection of the designers perspective. 

As a designer, Mary Joyce seeks boundaries in order to break them. Embrace the human imperfection in craft in a world of clean, varnished, social media ready, fashion. A lot of the materials and hardware used are recycled from fast fashion garments, and second hand clothing. One could say this was for the environment, but in truth it was the limited budget. The first batch of bangles that were made and sold were painted and sealed with beauty store nail polish. And the most recent batch have been featured in issues of Dazed and Paper Magazine. Skank Chic is rebellious, provocative, elegant, gritty, and seemingly unbound. From a fashionable sex toy, to a hair lamp, a crystal encrusted lighter, to a horse tail belt, Skank Chic is impossible to predict. And with each piece, accessory or object, Mary Joyce is telling the industry, she can not, and will not, be confined to a box. Skank Chic is much more than accessories, and Mary Joyce is determined to show that.