The Brand To Know: Déhanche
The Background
Founder Erin Webb’s love of 80s and 90s fashion inspired the idea for Déhanche. “It was a time when the belt was the ultimate accessory in a woman's wardrobe, and I realised I couldn’t find discrete luxury belts on the market that gave me that same sense of specialness today.”
That’s why she set out to create a focused collection of accessories, giving it the name ‘Déhanche’ – a French word used to describe the asymmetrical anatomical position of the hips in ancient Greek statues. “On photoshoots, you often hear the photographer telling the model to ‘Déhanche!’ – to stick out her hip. For me, it’s a word that represents the female form, art and fashion.”
The Inspiration
As well as artisan silversmiths, one of Erin’s biggest inspirations was a photograph of Georgia O’Keeffe by Tony Vaccaro. “She’s wearing a voluminous black dress, nipped at the waist by a belt covered in big silver Xs. It was designed by Hector Aguilar, a silversmith from Taxco, Mexico. It was definitely a statement belt, but it ended up becoming part of her uniform. I like to think my buckles are what set my label apart from every other collection on the market. Each one is custom cast, and the design inspiration comes from vintage belts and brooches I’ve found in Paris over the last ten years.”
All the Déhanche buckles are designed and cast-moulded like a piece of jewellery. “My first belt buckles took an entire year to design, iterate and perfect – and each metal buckle serves a different aesthetic need within the collection,” Erin adds.
The Déhanche Customer
In Erin’s own words, Déhanche is for people who appreciate modernist design and luxury craftsmanship – without all the big logos. “The pieces are for someone who wants to make a statement but who also appreciates pieces that have real character. A belt pulls together a look differently than a shoe or a bag – it’s more focused, studied and supportive to the overall shape of a woman.”
Because a belt hits at the most central part of the body, Erin explains that it allows a woman to define the type of silhouette she wants. “The moment you pair a belt with a trouser or a jean, you instantly look polished. I believe each belt can be an everyday belt or an occasion belt – it just depends on the styling.” Erin says she wears a belt every day to accentuate her waist – either with a pair of high-waist jeans or over a blazer. “Lately, however, I’m feeling a sexier low-slung vibe of wearing my lariat style below the hip bones – it’s very modern and undone.”
The Cult Pieces
The Brancusi and the Undone Corset belts have quickly become cult hits for Déhanche. “I love them layered over a billowing dress or oversized blazer,” adds Erin. Meanwhile, the Hollyhock and the Hutch belts are better for everyday, but still add polish to your look – perfect for when you want that undone yet elevated aesthetic. “The Ringo to me is more sensual,” says Erin. “Designed to slouch on the hips, the ring-lariat belt can hang over a billowing dress for a 70s vibe or you can loop it through your favourite pair of jeans for it to be more casual.”
The Materials
Each belt in the collection is handmade and – due to the rarity of speciality leather used in the designs – pieces are available in limited quantities. All the leathers are upcycled or vegetable dyed. As for the metals, Zamak is an alloy made up of 95% zinc, 4% aluminium and 1% copper. “This combination of elements confers hardness and resistance to zinc, which otherwise would be fragile and not very resistant,” explains Erin. “Zamak is also 100% infinitely reusable in its end-of-life, without losing any properties during the recycling process.” All the collections are designed in Paris and hand-crafted in Italian workshops that often collaborate with some of the world’s major luxury fashion houses.
The Sustainability Pledge
Sustainability sits at the heart of the brand, as Erin explains: “Fashion is an irresistible source of pleasure and an expression of identity, but it does remain the second largest pollutant in the world. That’s why I partnered with the Swedish company Doconomy and the 2030 Calculator to calculate the carbon footprint of our belts based on the emissions created from manufacturing and transport up until the point of sale. The Calculator uses unique emissions factors for each belt parts, material, packaging, transport and includes the lifetime methane emissions of the animal to determine the carbon footprint.” For each belt purchased, Erin and her team will also invest $5 dollars in decarbonisation micro projects overseen by Milkywire’s Climate Transformation Fund.
The Future
For now, Erin describes herself as “laser focused” on her mono-product label. “I want to give belts the importance they deserve and not dilute that by moving into other product categories. It’s like jewellery – there’s so much ornamentation that can be explored in one way.”
As for where you can buy the pieces, Déhanche launched exclusively with FWRD.com last March, with Kendall Jenner sporting one of the pieces a few days before the collection dropped – it subsequently sold out within two days.
You can also shop the pieces on Déhanche.com.
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