Designer interview – Barbara Bui, the secrets of character fashion
She is surrounded by books, photos on the walls like moodboards, sketches, samples... And old prototypes that we would dream of trying. Entering Barbara Bui, rue des Francs-Bourgeois in Paris, is already a privilege. You feel at the heart of the creative atmosphere, in the lair of a woman with dual French and Vietnamese culture, whose first fashion show, in 1987, was an immediate success. She does us the honor of telling us about her journey, her vision of women and sharing her inspirations with us.
35 years that she has been dressing the Parisienne, with chic suits, “stitched from men to sublimate women”, jackets that “underline their sensitivity and give them hold and strength”, lavishing on those who wear them a touch of rock and contemporary, inspired from the start by the photographic work of David Bailey, who produced some of its campaigns. Journalists including Léa Salamé, Natacha Polony, are her clients, politicians like Agnès Pannier Runacher or the first lady Brigitte Macron also wear it regularly. Just like Carla Bruni or Cécilia Sarkozy before them. Without forgetting the greatest actresses including Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Sharon Stone or Monica Bellucci. Recently, it was Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who composed her wardrobe at home to promote season 2 of Emily in Paris. So many opportunities to submit Barbara Bui to our creative interview.
Gala: Tell us about a memory related to your fashion?
Barbara Bui: I keep an image of my mother, a very pretty woman, in a golden lamé dress, very simple, very pure, very straight, à la Cardin - it wasn't - in the 60s. marked me. I had around me women with atypical backgrounds. My grandmother had three husbands, which was very rare for her time, when my great-aunt never married. She was an intellectual, a Latin and English French teacher, who took us on a trip, or to the Louvre. These women were special and necessarily inspired me when I imagined the Barbara Bui woman.
Gala: What was the trigger for your vocation for you?
B. B.: I intended to write after studying literature. It would have been consistent with my background and my world of birth, with a very learned great-aunt. I was thinking superficial fashion. And I didn't think I could express as much as through writing. It was while practicing it that I realized that it was finally another way of writing. Not with words, but silhouettes, colors. What I wanted to express, as a woman's point of view, I did in fashion.
Gala: The first piece of fashion you bought yourself?
B.B. : I was very young and did not have much money. I had bought myself an Anne-Marie Beretta cape coat, double-sided cashmere, leather trim. It presented an absolutely sublime work of architecture. I only liked beautiful, qualitative things, small fashion did not interest me. I did not realize that it was already a point of view, announcing what I wanted to do.
Gala: For you, who is the ultimate fashion icon?
B. B.: What has remained a reference is this photo of Bianca Jagger at her wedding in Saint-Tropez in 1971. She is wearing a suit jacket, with nothing underneath. There is everything in this look, the racy side, the character, the sensuality without any vulgarity and above all, the freedom to be.
Gala: And your current inspiration?
From how to drift a go-kart to watching old episodes of total wipeout. Youtube does take you on questionable wanders like🧐
— Tristan Morris Sun Apr 14 00:40:21 +0000 2019
B. B.: For the beginning of spring, the inspiration is the female artist. I imagined beiges, in cotton, with a simplicity of attitude, punctuated by very bright colors: grass green, bright red-orange. I had this idea of women who were very neutral in their way of dressing, casually, in cotton jumpsuits for example, almost in work clothes. Women who painted canvases with these bursts of color.
Gala: Precisely, what are the colors that accompany you in general?
B. B.: I like strong colors. I'm very black, white, otherwise this season it's very bright green. Wearing color is also a bit rock because you have to assume!
Gala: What is your favorite Instagram account?
B. B.: I'm mostly friends, like Blanca Li or Rossy de Palma. I like to follow their journey. Rossy's account is like her, brilliant, spontaneous, it's almost mini-performances that he offers to admire.
Gala: Do you have a favorite piece, a jewel that never leaves you?
B. B.: Not really. I don't wear any jewelry, except maybe Elsa Peretti's Bone bracelets.
Gala: The Barbara Bui material?
B. B.: Leather, of course. I started with leather. We had a boutique workshop in Les Halles. We worked in an artisanal way, like a very young brand, without any funding and we almost did semi-couture because customers came and ordered their garments made individually. Leather was not widely used at the time, except in the first degree, in rocker mode, so I wanted to do more sophisticated and original things like pleated pants, dresses. Since then, leather has been present in each of my collections, even for spring-summer.
Photo credits: Barbara Bui
