You may not have heard of her, but Barbara Bui has been quietly making her presence known and felt throughout the world of high fashion for decades. She is of French birth, but of Vietnamese origin. She opened her first Parisian clothing boutique in 1983 and presented her first collections during Paris Fashion Week several years after in 1987 establishing her eponymous brand.  Thanks to highly successful designs, in the following years she opened her second Parisian shop, directly in the heart of the French capital.

Pure and sharp, the designer’s style exudes a raw sensuality through the use of primitive materials like leather, python, crocodile and fur which gives her gold and silver incrusted garments a rock ‘n’ roll energy.  In 1998, Bui entered the stock market and this allowed for her brand to grow and expand. She has since opened stores in New York and Milan and a flagship in Paris on 50 avenue Montaigne. After 2000 when she expanded to shoes, accessories, and bags, she also launched a diffusion line called simply coined BUI. In 2009, the house of Barbara Bui launched a new line specializing in knitwear called Barbara Bui Tricot.

“Rock and Roll has no beginning and no end for it is the very pulse of life itself.”

Attribution to Polyvore, Vogue France