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Home , David Lauren, Lauren Bush, Somaly Mam

What’s Your Cause? Instead of going into the family business, Lauren is pursuing a personal agenda: designing products like her FEED bag (opposite) that help employ and feed people in developing nations. Lauren Pierce cotton Citizen dress ($585). wants to improve the lives of women and children the world over—and she’s doing it with style, one bag and one dress at a time. By Melinda Page Photographs by Stewart Shining Styled by Jenny Capitain

60 town & country first thing you see Right: Bush and her when you step business partner, Jacqueline Ytuarte, in The into Lauren Bush’s Bush’s apartment–design company headquarters, which also hap- studio. Below: With pens to serve as her apartment, is a tiny boyfriend in April, just before Manhattan-sized kitchen. There are no receiving an award from luxury faucets here, just the standard ’s white-laminate cabinets found in any Foundation. “He’s been rental apartment. Could this really be so supportive,” she says. David showed up at the where Lauren Bush—granddaughter of event toting one of her George H.W., niece of W., girlfriend of eco-friendly FEED bags. David Lauren (’s son), and “We talked about my idea on one of our first dates.” the former face of —lives and works? Indeed it is, and the rest of to the Poor, the semi- the space is just as small, without a flash nal book about micro­ of pretension in sight. The most eye- credit by Nobel Peace catching thing in the diminutive loft: Prize winner Muham- bright bolts of tie-dyed fabric from the mad Yunus—“one of Democratic Republic of the Congo. These my heroes,” says Bush. days, instead of spending big on rent, the (True enough, a dog-

twenty-six-year-old is economizing for a eared copy resides on cause, pouring all her money and time her bookshelf alongside into developing her Lauren Pierce line of an antique edition of

socially responsible clothing (lauren- the White House Cook a melescu pierce.com), sold exclusively at Barneys. Book, Bill Clinton’s Giv- Turn your attention to the designer her- ing, ’s Inconve- son y self and you’ll also be surprised to find out nient Truth and Jeffrey (sketches, textiles);

that Bush’s clothing line isn’t just about Sachs’s End of Poverty.) And although her D another celebrity trying to cash in on company has only two employees, includ- her notable name. Launched in 2008, the ing her, she takes things seriously. line features eco-friendly textiles made by While discussing the Lauren Pierce women, and each collection focuses at- line’s philanthropic genesis and, specifi- tention on the work of artisans from a dif- cally, why she’s focusing on women, Bush ferent country. Although dresses for spring jumps up and grabs a copy of her senior

2010—which come in five silhouettes and thesis, Encountering Women, which she y M c ullan.com; courtes atrick range in price from $465 to $590—are sewn wrote as an anthropology major at Prince­ Clockwise from top left: Sketches for

in , the one-of-a-kind fabrics ton in 2006. She flips through its pages, the spring 2010 were made by Congolese women using tra- pointing out diary entries and pictures Lauren Pierce ditional hand-dyeing methods. The fledg- from trips she took to remote areas of / P FARRELL Y collection; hand-dyed textiles from the ling company’s only mission is to make Guatemala, Chad and Cambodia on behalf Democratic Republic supporting women’s causes in the devel- of the World Food Program, for which she of the Congo; Lauren ork; © B ILL

oping world fashionable, and when it has served as an honorary spokesperson y Pierce dresses fill a comes to the issue at hand, Bush knows since 2004. “I read a lot about gender is- window at Barneys in New York; Bush, who s new s new what she’s talking about. She has smart, sues in developing countries, and I was M c ullan.com atrick rarely makes an considered answers for questions about really lucky to learn not only through re- appearance without

arne y one of her FEED

whether—and how—her company actually search but also through what I saw,” says b bags; a Congolese benefits women. As she’s explaining ex- Bush. “Women living in impoverished / P FARRELL Y woman with fabric she actly how her social business model works, situations have it the worst, and they’re made for the Lauren Pierce line. photographs, clockwise from top left: charlotte jenks lewis/studio y courtes it becomes clear that she’s read Banker the ones who are working so hard to sup- julie skarratt; top: from photographs, © B ILL

62 town & country “Giving someone a job that allows them to feed their family is more empowering than giving them a cash donation,” says Bush, wearing one of her port their families. After talking to challenges. To prove it, Bush and spring 2010 designs. The The collection pro- women who are clearly struggling Ytuarte fish out several yards of vided employment for in a way that a man wouldn’t, who Status Bag Cambodian silk from among the sixteen women in the are trying so hard to till land that Since their debut bolts piled in Bush’s apartment, ex- Congo. Lauren Pierce in 2007, more than cotton dress ($590). won’t grow anything, it’s hard not to plaining that they couldn’t use it For shopping informa- want to help them.” Once she did 500,000 FEED because the color was off and the tion, see page 104. her homework and found that bags have been sold. The $35 FEED width wasn’t standard. “We don’t Hair by Laura DeLeon women are more likely than men to feedprojects.com. Haiti bag provides ask for a refund when something for Joe. Makeup by fifty meals for Sandrine Van Slee for educate and vaccinate their chil- like that happens,” says Bush. “We Christian Dior at Art dren and break the poverty cycle, For each $60 Haitian children at just consider it part of doing busi- Department. Manicure FEED 1 bag, $20 a cost of $12.50. by Ana-Maria for Onyx Bush had found her cause. ness with artisans.” Clearly, that’s Salon & Spa at artists After each of its first two seasons, goes to the World not the philosophy of a company for bytimothypriano.com. the Lauren Pierce line donated 10 Food Program— Buy the $25 which the only consideration is the percent of its profits to a charity in the exact amount FEED 10 pouch bottom line. But, says Bush, the the country where the fabric was required for one and $9 goes toward complications are worth it. “I like created—in 2009, the funds went to year’s worth of food and job that everything is hand touched and the Somaly Mam Foundation, which school meals for training for ten each piece of fabric represents the aids survivors of child sex traffick- one child in Africa. women through the woman who made it.” To that end, ing in Cambodia, and to Women for WFP’s Food for Bush not only designs the dresses— Women International, which helps Buy the $195 Assets program. she studied fashion at Central Saint women recover from the ravages FEED 2 Kenya Martins, in London, and interned of war. But the true benefit comes bag and $100 For every $25 with —but personally from the income her company pro- feeds two children FEED READ 3 works on every piece that goes out vides when it buys handmade fabric in Kenya for a year. bag, $4.75 the door. And rather than hiring directly from the women who make Available exclu­ buys a child someone else to do menial jobs, she it. For the current collection, Bush sively at Bergdorf three books spends plenty of late nights doing bought 1,500 yards of fabric from Goodman, NYC. and three meals. last-minute tasks herself. a cooperative in the Democratic Given her background, it might Republic of the Congo run by Wom- seem hard to believe that Bush en for Women, employing sixteen women and Versace made solely from “green” stays up until 3:00 a.m. handstamping in the process. “We’re not just giving fabrics. “I wanted to start an eco-friendly the tags for her clothing line—until you handouts, we’re trying to create a sustain- fashion line, but I knew I couldn’t do it meet her in person. Although she’s grown able business model,” she points out. “We alone,” Bush says of working with Ytuarte, up in the spotlight and her parents’ rather give them a little hope, a little support, who has been instrumental in finding fab- messy divorce became tabloid fodder and we also highlight the beautiful work rics like the organic wool used in the fall when she was still a teenager, she is re- that they’re doing. We could just give a 2009 collection. Ellen Gustafson, the co- markably unassuming, not to mention donation, but providing long-term em- founder of FEED Projects, Bush’s other unguarded. Talking with her feels so ca- ployment and empowering women is philanthropic ­endeavor—which has raised sual, so natural, that it’s easy to forget more helpful.” more than $5.5 million for the World Food that she is who she is. Admittedly, she has Another sign that this isn’t just a vanity Program’s school-meals initiative (see worked at creating a “normal” life. “I project: Bush has managed to recruit “The Status Bag,” above)—is no intellec- don’t surround myself with people who I smart, capable women to work with her. tual lightweight, either: before helping think treat me differently because of my Georgetown grad Jacqueline Ytuarte, her start FEED, she was a reporter for ABC last name,” she says. While working as a Lauren Pierce business partner, helped News’s investigative unit, a research as- model in college, she also made a con- bring environmentally responsible fash- sociate at the Council on Foreign Rela- scious decision to step away from the ion into the mainstream in 2008 when tions and a communications officer for cameras. “I knew I didn’t want to model she produced a show during New York the World Food Program. after I graduated,” says Bush. “I really Fashion Week that featured designs from Bush’s commitment to working with enjoy the back-end, day-to-day work of the likes of Stella McCartney, Givenchy handcrafted materials is not without its running a business. As a model › 104

JULY 2010 65 Model Citizen The Patroness continued from page 65 continued from page 71

you’re just a public face. You’re not really mom. Her mom’s family came here from Cantor and her husband started giving creating anything. But it’s an amazing Italy, and my grandmother was the first away not only Rodin sculptures (an esti- feeling to model my own dresses and bags one born in the U.S. I feel very blessed to mated 450 by the time of his death, in and be involved every step of the way.” be a woman, and to be a woman now, but 1996) but also sizable sums of cash after Bush is no shrinking violet, but it was that wasn’t the case for my mom—as it they established their philanthropic foun- this desire for normalcy that led her to isn’t the case for women in developing dation, in 1978. By then the investment use only her first and middle names for countries. At the time my mother started firm of Cantor Fitzgerald, which Bernie her clothing line (Pierce is also her grand- working, she could have been a teacher or had cofounded (and where Iris served as mother’s maiden name and her younger a nurse, and that was it. So she became a vice chairman), was among the biggest brother’s first name). “Intrinsically, the grade-school teacher. I’m thankful that I and most profitable of such companies on clothing is about helping people. I want have so many options.” Wall Street. “Bernie once told me, ‘Iris, the line to be reflective of me, and it Those who know Bush well say she’s this foundation will take you anywhere is—the handwriting in the logo is my own also truly generous in spirit. Beyond her and everywhere,’ ” says Cantor. “Well, it script, and obviously the project is very philanthropic work, there’s plenty of evi- recently took me to North Carolina. But personal—but I don’t need it to be the dence of that: she gives credit where it’s also taken me to Singapore. To Aus- Lauren Bush show.” credit is due, constantly mentioning the tralia. To Japan. And many, many other It’s obvious, too, that Bush has long help she’s received from her business places in the world.” been the thoughtful, meditative person partners, her family, her boyfriend. At a “And I was about to add Queens, but recent awards ceremony for her compa- Tony Bennett would kill me if I said “The clothing is ny’s donations to the Somaly Mam Foun- the borough name instead of Astoria, the dation, most of her acceptance speech about helping people. was dedicated to thanking others. During I want the line to our interview, she insists I take a copy of a Cantor’s own be reflective of me, book I haven’t read. Over lunch at a local magnificent obsession — West Village restaurant, she’s just another and it is but I customer—and unfailingly polite to the is her philanthropy, don’t need it to be the waitress. “I notice she always says thank an endeavor Lauren Bush show.” you, which is a really nice thing,” says she has embraced Ytuarte. But then Bush mentions that she’s leaving for in a few days. What with the fervor that she is today. She remembers, for in- for? To attend the opening of the new of a collector. stance, the moment she became a vege- Ralph Lauren store and restaurant there, tarian, at age four. “My family was at a she explains so nicely, so unaffectedly, as place in called the White Fence if she were just going to Walmart to run neighborhood where he grew up,” she Farm, where you can help feed the chick- some errands. And that brings her char- continues, referring to her membership ens and then have dinner. I thought the acter into high relief. It is possible to be on the board of Exploring the Arts, an or- chickens were so cute while I was feeding beautiful, to be smart, to be fashionable, ganization Bennett established in 1999 to them, and I said, ‘Oh, chickens!’ But then to be generous, to be giving. To be all build the Frank Sinatra School of the we sat down to eat, and I made the those things and, yes, to be nice, too. ∂ Arts in Astoria. The school is topped with connection. I said, ‘Oh...chickens.’ It was the Iris Cantor Roof Garden, certainly an very disturbing.” Fashion & Shopping Information impressive amenity, though it does not Does Bush think her desire to help model citizen rival her more celebrated—and public— women’s causes has anything to do with Pages 61 and 64: Lauren Pierce dresses at Metropolitan Museum of Art roof garden, her own mother’s difficult divorce? After Barneys New York, 888-8-BARNEYS. Page which opened in 1987. all, when Sharon Bush’s husband walked 61: Monique Péan earrings with 18k rose gold, Cantor’s own magnificent obsession— out on her for another woman, she pub- diamonds and fossilized walrus ivory to the delight of universities, hospitals, licly claimed that she was left with inade- ($7,590), at Barneys New York, NYC, 212- cultural institutions and scholars whom quate funds for raising her children. 826-8900. Page 64: Monique Péan earrings she finances to write museum catalogues— Instead of deflecting the question, Bush with 18k white gold, diamonds and fossil- is her philanthropy, an endeavor she has answers contemplatively: “I’ve always felt ized woolly-mammoth ivory ($26,230), at embraced with the fervor of a collector. a sort of womanly empathy toward my Barneys New York, NYC, 212-826-8900. ∂ For New York University, she funded the

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