Barbara Bui puts archive items on sale for first time

Barbara Bui has launched the ‘Millésimes’ (vintage) project. The founder and designer of the eponymous women’s ready-to-wear label (which launched menswear in 2019) has selected the best vintage items from its archives, picking over 100 exceptional collector models made between 2005 and 2020, and putting them on sale for the first time ever. The items, some of them one-off looks, will be showcased at Barbara Bui’s Parisian store at 50 avenue Montaigne until May 31.
 

Barbara Bui founded her label, renowned for its leather looks, in 1987. The archives are conserved in a large warehouse in Vitry-sur-Seine, where Bui often goes. She likes to draw inspiration from these rare models, as she said herself, “to create new collections, refashioning some cuts, or changing materials and finishings. This is truly the label’s memory, our DNA, and we are very keen to keep evolving it through this reinterpretation work. I love the idea of making good use of my experiences.”

For this unprecedented sale, Bui has deliberately chosen “strong creations, items decorated with pearls and sequins, trimmed with lace, studded or embroidered, some of them needing hundreds of hours of manual work. A vintage cru of exceptionally crafted items worthy of a haute couture collection, affording a glimpse of the Barbara Bui fundamentals: excellence in leather and denim, peerless tailoring, powerful black looks and artistic embroidery,” said the Parisian label in a press release, indicating that it would like to repeat the ‘Millésimes’ operation in future.

“Craftsmanship and embroidery add intensity, but the shapes remain very sharp, rocker-style. The details are painstakingly curated but the effect isn’t affected, I’m very keen on this. The cuts are extremely precise, these are actually more like haute couture than ready-to-wear items,” said Bui, whose aim is to emancipate women through her designs.

The archive items selected, some of them requiring from 100 to 600 hours of manual work, sometimes even 1,000 hours, have been mostly produced between 2005 and 2020 in very limited volumes, mostly for runway shows. They are looks the label is no longer producing. Barbara Bui stopped staging runway shows in 2016, having decided to switch to artistic video presentations, more consistent with its current image.

These visually striking looks, ranging in style from tailored items to contemporary leather and denim silhouettes with a rocker vibe, are priced between €1,500 and €6,000. As they are lavishly produced items, they are priced above the label’s usual bracket. Barbara Bui is positioned as a more affordable high-end label, with a high-quality range at a suitable price.

In 2020, the label’s revenue was adversely impacted by the pandemic, but since then it has been growing year after year, and is back to its pre-Covid level. In 2023, Barbara Bui’s revenue was €12 million, with Europe and the USA its main markets. The label has some 60 employees and is distributed via 144 multibrand retailers, plus its e-shop and three monobrand stores in Paris: a flagship on avenue Montaigne and two other addresses, on rue de Grenelle and rue des Saints-Pères.