"I like to play with paradoxes, and I favor fabric contrasts : the irreverence of leather or vinyl combined with softness of silk or georgette. My silhouettes are neither felinine nor masculine.
It is the very mixture of the two that gives this look.’’
Designer Barbara Bui was born in Paris in 1956.
Her mother was French, her father Vietnamese — they met as students in Paris, when her father left Indochina to pursue his studies. BB says that her mixed heritage is very much a part of her identity, her work and her brand DNA, encouraging her to be open to and curious about many different cultures.
She had no formal schooling in fashion design. As a child her passions were books and fashion. Her love of books led her to the Sorbonne, and after finishing a Masters degree in English Literature she studied theatre and experimented with a writing career.
Then in 1983, she says, her childhood passions came together. She decided that, instead of words, she would write with fashion, "with shapes, colours and lines". With her partner, William Halimi, she opened a women’s boutique called Kabuki on the rue de Turbigo in Paris, carrying her own designs and a few other up-coming young designer. Her earliest creations were principally limited editions in leather or suede, made on site in her boutique and atelier.
The emblematic silhouette embodies
3 themes : harmony, dichotomy and duality...
Feminine, boyish, sexy and edgy, soft romantic, a cocktail that represents the Barbara Bui muse.
Barbara Bui celebrity clients include Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Beyoncé, Claire Danes, Charlize Theron, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristen Stewart, Reese Witherspoon, Zoé Saldana, Jessica Chastain, Katy Perry and many more.
