If you've been following us for a while now, you know that at exactly three years in business - December 15, 2023 - we decided to take a pause and step back from bubuleh for some personal and professional reasons. The idea was never to close, but to use some space to reimagine what the future of bubuleh looked like; what we wanted it to look like.
Though we're still figuring that out, we are big believers in the idea of, "If you feel it, follow it" which has led us to coming back after a year and a half with this new Pride-inspired collection.
It's no secret that the past few years have been incredibly difficult to be Jewish. They've also been incredibly difficult to be gay. And to be both? Oof. It's hard to explain the experience. It's hard to explain the feeling of being a gay or LGBTQ Jew over the past few years; increasingly isolated from all sides and continually finding less and less people who have our best interest at heart as our full selves. It's a scary and often times lonely place to be, and requires us LGBTQ Jews to find comfort and safety in new and reimagined communities that many have never had to rely on before.
Increasingly, in spaces where one part of us can thrive, the other has to hide, and vice versa. Progress made over the past decades has regressed. It is, in a word, heartbreaking.
LGBTQ Jews often bear the brunt of the increasingly hostile political and social climate around the world, and let us tell you, it's exhausting. It's thankless. It's not a position we asked to be in. But here we are.
Due to this, and due to the success of our first faygeleh run, we wanted to do something this Pride season to acknowledge, celebrate and support the LGBTQ Jewsish community. We wanted to tell others; we see you. We hear you. We're here for you. We're not in this alone.
And so, the idea for this collection was born.
Was there an overarching theme for this collection?
You may look at the collection and see pieces of all kinds, from knits to tanks, crops to boxy tees, etc...How do they all go together?
And here's the answer...the variety is the theme.
Why?
Like we said, LGBTQ Jews are often in a place of either / or. We can either be here and out as this or there and out as that. The spaces in which we can exist as our full selves can often seem limited, though of course that's on oversimplification.
So, for this collection, we wanted to flip this experience on its head and lean into both / and. You want a tight tank top and a cute cable knit hoodie? Why not?! You should be able to rock them both. You want cheeky and also stylish; powerful and poetic? You got it. This collection says screw having to choose. We can and should be able to live out and proud as LGBTQ Jews without compromising our diverse wants or needs.
Additionally, over the past few years, the ways in which LGBTQ Jews, and LGBTQ folks and Jews, overall, express their pride in who they are has changed. Self-expression and pride can look very different person to person. Some want to plaster who they are across their chest, and some feel just as much pride in who they are, but don't want to or feel comfortable advertising it. So, we wanted to create a collection that honors and recognizes these diverse experiences by creating pieces that meet lots of different types of people where they are, instead of telling them where they should be.
And with that, here we are.
Our expectation is that we run this collection through Pride season and then go back to our hiatus until inspiration (and resources) for the next collection strike us, but who knows? Stay tuned, and make sure you're following along so you don't miss a thing.
With love and just a little anxiety,
bubuleh
