Alyssa Wasko has long loved fashion accessories, whether it was the purses she sold as a girl or the Chanel ballet flats she likes to wear with slim cuffed jeans.
And she’s rarely been seen without a decorative piece of fabric draped around her neck in the two years since she launched her collection of scarves. Wasko, a Denver native and recent graduate of the University of Arizona, started her business as many fashion entrepreneurs do, making a scarf here and there for friends and sorority sisters. Then, friends of friends wanted them, and Donni Charm was born.
The impetus behind the line was more than a desire to make something pretty. Wasko, 21, started the company in memory of her father, Donald Wasko, who died after an accident three years ago. His friends called him Donny, and “he always said Alyssa was his charm,” recalls her mother and business partner, Joey Mosko.
Wasko’s twist on a classic scarf design is to attach a charm or two to one of the corners. Angel wings, hearts, peace and ahimsa symbols, slender chains and other adornments lend not only decoration but add a protective, sentimental or good-luck element to the piece. “It’s like someone is watching over you,” Wasko says.
She was a sophomore in college when her father died and says that rather than be overwhelmed by grief, she threw herself into both her studies of retail and consumer science, and into making scarves. “I wanted to be as distracted as possible,” she admits.
The scarves initially were another in a series of entrepreneurial projects Wasko has been undertaking since age 12, and she was surprised when they took off. A turning point came when actress Jessica Biel was photographed wearing one of the designs.
“That was surreal,” she says of seeing the celebrity in a magazine. “Then it spread.”
Wasko said she spent many late nights cutting and sewing fabric until the company got too big for her and she found a Los Angeles manufacturer to make the products.
The scarves, which sell for $60-$100, are carried in more than 150 stores, including many in the Los Angeles area. Locally, such women’s boutiques as Roxy and Eccentricity sell the designs. Her spring and summer looks are in gauzy cashmere, cotton jersey and acid- washed cotton. Colors such as melon and “denim” blue are available in addition to classic black and gray.
The collection is focused on a few styles and colors, but for spring, Wasko added some loungelike tops, as well as a wooden bead necklace with angel-wing charm that is selling to both guys and girls. “All my friends’ boyfriends are wearing them,” Wasko says.
The company also has teamed with numerous nonprofit organizations, designing special scarves and donating proceeds to organizations includng Flight for Life, Race to Erase MS and Denver Public Schools.
While she’d like to expand and offer purses, flip-flops and bathing suits, right now Wasko is keeping the line small.
That’s in part because she’s getting ready to move to New York, where she’ll be working four days a week on the Chanel visual merchandising team. Wasko spent the past three summers at Chanel and, with college now behind her, is taking the plunge.
How did she land a job with one of the world’s iconic brands? “Persistence,” says the petite brunet. “I must have called their human resources department 20 times.” She had interned with Dress for Success in Denver and the boutique Garbarini, so that experience along with determination helped her get in the door.
Wasko isn’t fazed by working two jobs, thinking that her experience with Chanel will help her other efforts.
“I was a full-time student when I started this and was able to balance,” she says, “so as long as I stay inspired, I feel I can take it to whatever level I need to.”
Part of that inspiration continues to come from people who thank her for what she’s doing. “Alyssa gets e-mails all the time not only from the U.S. but all over world from people who have lost a parent or loved one,” says Mosko. “It’s great she can do something in honor of her father. He would be beyond proud.”
Suzanne S. Brown: 303-954-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com
How to wear a summer scarf
A scarf instantly updates your wardrobe, whether you wear one with shorts and a T-shirt or a sundress, says Alyssa Wasko, who creates the Donni Charm line. She offers these tips:
Choose a scarf in a lightweight fabric like cotton or gauzy cashmere that you can wrap around your neck and then toss over your shoulders in an air-conditioned restaurant or movie theater.
Tie a triangular design around your hips as a sarong to cover a swimsuit.
Select a scarf in a bright color to give your outfit a lift, if you tend to wear neutral colors.
Pack styles in different colors and patterns for travel. Put one in your carry-on luggage to wear on the airplane. Pack others in your luggage: They don’t take up much room and will give your outfits a fresh look.
Keep the looping loose, so that the effect is light.
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More at donnicharm.com.
