One of Bush’s goals for the collection is supporting underprivileged women in the developing world; she’s been advocating for the issue since her Princeton University days, when she wrote her senior thesis on the topic. “They’re more oppressed; they eat less; they suffer much more just because of their gender,” says Bush, noting that her work for the UN further opened her eyes to their plight. “The important thing to me is giving them a trade, a purpose, a livelihood, a job.” Thus, 10 percent of Lauren Pierce’s profits will go back to Women for Women. In addition Bush will continue working with that organization and others to broker partnerships each season with artisans from various developing regions.
All of these weighty issues certainly resonate this year. And Bush can call her collection whatever she wants, but taking her name out of the equation won’t take political questions off the table. So will she be thinking Obama or McCain come Election Day? “I don’t know. [Obama is] still so new. He seems like a strong leader, but we’ll see,” she says. “I haven’t decided who I’m voting for.”
