Our history

Our history

History

1926

Marcel BENA started a business in his own name and created his knitting and elastic tulle workshop for corsets in his apartment in Pantin, east of Paris.
1930

“First product launch using elastic fabric”
Charles Fossey, known as Fakir Burman, arrived in Paris in the 1930s to practice his profession as an astrologer.

Ten years later, he decided to convert.
With an address book of women around the world, he wondered, “Who could interest all these women?
Their silhouette, of course!

He joined forces with Marcel BENA to manufacture women's underwear.
This is how the Barbara brand was born.
1955

In 1945, Gilbert BENA, son of Marcel, took over the Barbara brand, when Charles Fosze died in 1952 and soon developed it.
1968

This year is symbolic in that it reflects the emancipation of women and the arrival of adulthood (1972)
of the first lingerie collections: bra and panties.
1981

“The first brand to make lingerie with elastic lace”
Barbara is the first brand to use elastic lace to make lingerie.
It gained a worldwide reputation for its well-being thanks to this comfortable lace and remains today a brand of lace lingerie.
1988

First television commercial that made the brand famous with the slogan

"Barbara, it's me!"
2000

Ten years of innovation with the launch of “angel” lingerie that is seamless and invisible under the most fitted clothing.
Followed a few years later by the new “space” material, perfect for making seamless, breathable and unproducible bras.
2006

Launch of an Open Tour campaign on the back of buses in Paris to revitalize the brand.
2012

Barbara renews television advertising with a series of spots which use the slogan “Barbara, it’s me”.

This is the year of launch of the “Beauty Perfect” range,
The first line of "flayed" lace is smooth and seamless, combining elegance and invisibility under clothing.
2024

And now, Barbara is reborn as lifestyle lingerie that reinterprets the Parisian sensibility of designing and expressing one's life creatively from a modern perspective.