FEED Project feeds the hungry
Lauren Bush's eclectic world includes Judith Leiber bags & Rocky Carroll boots
Ralph Lauren designed Lauren's Bush wedding gown and his son David Lauren'swestern-style tuxedoPhoto by Norman Jean Roy/Courtesy of Vogue
Lauren Bush LaurenPhoto by Priscilla Dickson
Lauren Bush Lauren, left, and Sharon Bush, showcase the Judith Leiber FEED 1000clutch, $495 at Neiman Marcus and Judith LeiberPhoto by Priscilla Dickson
Lauren Bush and David Lauren at the Costume Institute Gala last spring where sheintroduced the Judith Leiber FEED 1000 clutch.
Judith Leiber makes glittery evening bags that start at $1,500. Lauren Bush touts $30 burlap totes whose profits go to feed hungry children around the world.
But they have joined forces to create a nighttime clutch that serves both purposes. Bush first showcased the Judith Leiber FEED 1000 clutch at the Costume Institute Gala in New York, where everyone who is anyone in the fashion world attends. Now she often carries it when she and her husband, David Lauren, are on the social circuit.
"It really does make my life easier," Bush said during a recent appearance at Neiman Marcus. "As much as I like the contrast of mixing it up with something unexpected, this is much more elegant for an evening event."
"Judith Leiber makes beautiful, very high-end, glitzy clutches and we make very rustic tote bags. It was that challenge of how to make the aesthetics blend."
Bush has used her connections to collaborate with some of America's top companies to create products that benefit the United Nations World Food Program. She teamed with Clarins to offer FEED pouches, dop bags and tote bags with a purchase of the beauty company's best selling products and collaborated with Pottery Barn for a FEED picnic set and with Disney for children's clothes and stuffed toys with the FEED logo.
"With each of those it's taking the FEED brand in different directions but adapting it to what our partner company does best, which has been really fun and interesting to see what comes of each," she said.
Since founding the FEED Project nearly five years ago, she has raised nearly $6 million — a figure that is particularly impressive because it wasn't planned. Bush initially came up with the idea for a burlap tote to raise funds and awareness about the U.N. food program. She was all set to sell the bag under U.N. auspices when she was told that the world organization couldn't be the seller of such products for legal reasons. So she started a company to sell the bag.
"We've been learning as we've gone along," she said. "It's really been a fun adventure."
The collaboration with Judith Leiber came about about a year ago when a member of the Leiber creative team saw Bush at a society function with the more casual FEED bag and became determined to make her a more elegant version.
"Judith Leiber makes beautiful, very high-end, glitzy clutches and we make very rustic tote bags. It was that challenge of how to make the aesthetics blend," Bush said. "I think what we all came up really hit the nail on the head. It's obviously a beautiful clutch worthy of the Judith Leiber brand but it also has a bit of a rustic feel with the hand-beading and the FEED logo."
The clutch, available at Neiman Marcus and online at Judith Leiber, retails for $495, which while still expensive for many young women is within reach of someone who looks upon it as an investment that can be worn with many different outfits.
"Usually you wouldn't wear a Judith Leiber bag with jeans on a Friday night, but with this one you can," said Judith Leiber president Mary Gleason.
The cowboy boots, made by Houston bootmaker Rocky Carroll with personal touches like the date of the wedding, was her idea. "I wanted to be comfortable," she said.
Bush, who grew up in Houston and is a graduate of the Kinkaid School, visited with friends and family during her Houston visit. Her mother, Sharon, flew in from New York for a luncheon at Neiman Marcus to tout the clutch. (Gleason said all proceeds go directly to FEED and that the company doesn't make a profit. Versions in silver and gold have just about sold out and the newest version in black is selling well. Gleason envisions future bags in different colors.)
We couldn't resist slipping in a few questions about Bush's recent wedding to David Lauren, the son of designer Ralph Lauren, that took place at the 17,000-acre Double RL ranch near Telluride on Labor Day. A spread in the September issue of Vogue shows the happy couple in wedding gown and western tux, both designed by the groom's father, Ralph Lauren. Bush collaborated with the designer on the antique tulle hand-embroidered gown with Swarovski Elements, beads and pearls.
"It was the most spectacular process and the most spectacular dress," she recalled "I have gone to the fashion shows and seen him in action, but to really work intimately with him and his team was amazing.
"The way he does designs is not one-off pieces. It's setting a whole story. So each of his collections is very much about setting a mood and a story and creating a mood around a collection. He did the same thing with our wedding, from what David wore to what I wore to what the barn looked like."
But the cowboy boots, made by Houston bootmaker Rocky Carroll with personal touches like the date of the wedding, was her idea. "I wanted to be comfortable," she said.
The couple chose Colorado for the wedding rather than New York or Houston because she was born in Denver and David Lauren grew up visiting the family ranch. "So it was kind of like the place we both shared," she said. "And it was so beautiful."
