Barbara Bui Millésimes

From 25 April, Barbara Bui is offering for sale for the first time, a hundred pieces from her archives in its boutique on Avenue Montaigne. A selection of items “collector” that have left their mark on fashion history from 2005 to 2020. The artistic director has chosen pieces that are deliberately «strong», embellished with pearls and sequins, adorned with lace, studded, or embroidered, and requiring hundreds of hours of work.

A “millésime” of pieces worthy of haute couture, with exceptional craftsmanship that reveals the Barbara Bui fundamentals: the art of leather and denim, the perfection of tailoring, the strength of black and graphic embroidery. Barbara Bui looks back on her fifteen years of fashion shows, marked by an unalterable passion for fashion and creation.

WHICH EMOTIONS DID YOU FEEL AS YOU LOOKED BACK OVER 15 YEARS OF FASHION HISTORY?

Barbara Bui - It always makes me very emotional to see these pieces again because they have marked the fashion shows. It was a time when I was able to make pieces that were, in a way, haute couture. The pieces that you are going to see are extremely beautiful pieces that go from 100 hours to 600 hours of work. There are pieces that I personally have and that I have kept. Even if they were shown in ready-to-wear shows, these pieces were much more haute-couture pieces than ready-to-wear pieces.

HOW DID YOU SELECT THESE ARCHIVE ITEMS?

The idea was to choose only exceptional pieces that can last a lifetime because it’s almost always made on the basis that I like, always tailoring or when they are dresses, they are dresses quite modern, quite rock but above all with a value of know how or an exceptional value of work. That’s why we called it “Millésimes” it’s like great wines, archive pieces, if we almost exaggerate, museum pieces. But that we can still wear today.

DO YOU EVER GO BACK INTO YOUR OWN ARCHIVES TO CREATE NEW THINGS?

These are archive pieces that I can still be inspired by now to rework the models for the new collections, it’s the memory of the house. In general, we remember everything we did. So sometimes we will immerse ourselves in our archives, use them differently, change the cuts.. When new stylists enter a brand, they will immediately look for the DNA of the house and the iconic pieces. We, ourselves, being there, we do the same work on what we have been able to do, perhaps re-reading, evolving, using our experiences.

YOUR PIECES ARE NOT REALLY DATED, TIMELESSNESS IS AT THE HEART OF YOUR CREATION...

We continue to dress celebrities for big events with these pieces. These pieces don’t have time, they are timeless. For example, we loaned pieces from our archives for the series Emily in Paris including a piece with an embroidered bird for example.

HAS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS EVOLVED?

I have always the same way of working, but maybe a little less of these very, very, very, artisanal pieces. That’s why it’s important to keep them or that people can buy them as collector pieces, because it’s true that these are things I do less of now. As there were sometimes a few editions left, we thought it was important to show this to our clients even though there are clients who have known us for a while who must remember it very well.

WAS THERE ONE PARTICULAR PIECE THAT MOVED YOU WHEN YOU SAW IT?

I found a piece from the very beginning of my career, a very, very long time ago. I didn’t do fashion shows at the time. It was a leather jumpsuit called the jumpsuit 13 because it had 13 zips. It’s covered in zips that make up the whole construction of the jumpsuit. You can center, enlarge, modulate in your own way. Although it was in my very first pieces, I found it always so beautiful. And when I saw this jumpsuit again, I said to myself “Wow, how did we manage to do this?” I was really young at the time and we could have said that I may not have had enough experience at this time and that it could not have been so successful. These are surprises, good surprises.

YOUR PIECES ARE LINKED TO IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN OUR LIVES, LIKE LISTENING TO A PIECE OF MUSIC...

As I wear the clothes I make a lot, I also have old pieces. I wear them and I wear them again. For example, I have an embroidered jacket that I wore the day I received The Globe de Cristal, as the best designer of the year. I particularly love this jacket, not only because the jacket is beautiful but also because it was there at an important moment in my life. I think it’s certainly the same thing for clients who have bought clothes from me and who can sometimes be impregnated with moments they have lived, who can also be imbued with a certain affection.