BUCI NYC
Our Slow, Gentle, and Minimal Gem Girl
Created by Mishka Ivanovic, a Parsons School of Design graduate, in January 2019, BUCI is a brand that embodies minimalism and comfort in their everyday wear. The name comes from “a two hour drive outside of Belgrades Border [that takes] you onto a dirt Road marked by a Cyrillic Sign that reads Buci”.
Ivanovic shared in the Hoku Magazine interview, “this is where my Grandmother was born and grew up, and where my Father and Uncle and later my sister’s and I spent our summers - in between the Raspberry bushes. The women of Buci all traditionally wear scarves over their heads, and tend to the overflowing abundance of Cherry, Apple and Pear trees, Tomatoes, cucumbers and the Vineyards”.
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BUCI is the juxtaposition between the earth in mother nature and the bedazzling taste of a gem girl. A young adult woman living her best luxurious life, while also embracing a sustainable lifestyle.
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Every piece that you wear carries energy, that “the garment you put on your skin is married to the experience you have wearing it”. Ivanovic continued to say, “It is too easy these days to be blind to the manpower it takes to create something…The flowers and the produce and the vineyards are not what make Buci the most beautiful place in the world, but the work and the strength of the people. I hope with this intention I can bottle that energy thus empowering those who wear our clothes”.
BUCI also prides itself and its brand identity on being as sustainable as possible. To them, sustainability is more than just being environmentally aware and reducing their environmental impact, but also ensuring that workers are paid a sustainable wage.
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Since the brand makes a conscious decision to collaborate with factories that prioritize fair wages for their workers and utilizes sustainable materials for their garments, their prices are reasonably more pricey, ranging from $40 to $585.
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The brand opts for sustainably grown organic cotton and deadstock fabrics. Sustainably grown organic cotton doesn't use chemicals to grow which is better for the environment. It also means regulating how much cotton is being harvested so that it doesn’t harm the soil by overplanting.
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How does this affect BUCI? It would mean waiting longer for cotton to grow naturally, which slows production; however, it is beneficial for everyone because it reduces overharvesting and "reduces risk of overconsumption and waste".
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Deadstock fabrics on the other hand are “leftover fabrics of fashion houses who overestimated their needs” which are usually sent to landfills. So using deadstock fabric “avoids the creation of environmentally damaging synthetics, and prevents [it] from ending up in landfill. It also helps to slow down the world's water crisis as using one yard of a Deadstock fabric will save 700 gallons of water usually used to produce this amount of new fabric”.
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The best part about being a BUCI girl is that they encourage conversation and interaction on their website. They feature stories of different people, such as Walking to Work with, Gem Wine with Our Gem Girls, and the gem quiz under Stories. We get a glimpse of what a BUCI woman looks like.