Maria Bouvier

Hi! I´m María Alejandra Bouvier, Fashion Designer from Uruguay and Textile Natural Dyer.

I´ve been a color lover since I can remember so in 2014, two years after i graduated as a fashion designer, I decided to go to New York to do a Color Specialist Certificate at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). It was then, when one day walking down the streets of my neighborhood in Brooklyn, I randomly bought a book that made me discover what it would later become my true passion: hand natural dyeing. This ancient technic allows me not only to work with color but to create it with my own hands without damaging our environment.

Three years later and back in Uruguay, my dream came true and I launched my own sustainable women´s fashion label, MARÍA BOUVIER, where we only use certified organic cotton, that I dye myself with natural stuff such as flowers, wood barks, spices, organic wastes, and then we work together with small local sewing studios to develop our pieces fairly while supporting our community.
For me, the dyeing process is the soul and essence of our garments. I truly enjoy experimenting and to transform natural elements that surround us in my own colors. It's incredible the number of different colors we can get from just one dye, it only takes to change the water PH with some lemon drops, modifying the dye bath temperature, varying the dyeing time or just the amount of dyestuff we use. I personally find the natural dyeing process magical. As a handcrafted technic is not perfect, but I believe that is exactly that what gives a unique value to each of our pieces, as there aren´t two exactly alike.

I believe what we chose to wear communicates about the person we are, our beliefs and values, therefore, I aim to create pieces that make you feel special, that you can identify with and feel proud wearing. Hope you love them too!