The Biba Story: The outfits

So after sharing the fashion illustrations and wishing I could draw as well today I’m sharing some of the outfits on display. The exhibition, which we saw last summer shared the Biba story from 1964 when the first Biba Boutique opened to 1975 when the legendary Big Biba closed its doors; it explored how Biba blossomed to become the world’s first lifestyle label which ‘sparked a revolution in how people shopped’ and how Biba became the brand that epitomises the 60s and 70s fashion.

So even though I was only in double figures towards the end of the 70s many of the designs on display looked familiar and I’m sure influenced the clothes I wore growing up. There were also designs that I’d happily wear today, but I guess that’s part of what makes a great design.

The first Biba boutique opened in Kensington in 1965 and was quickly a success for fashion-savvy teenagers and young women with its inexpensive and fashionable, but low-cost clothing. The interior of the boutique had a nightclub feel with dark interiors, Art-Nouveau inspired wallpaper and curtains which obscured the outside world - which in a way seems similar to the Hollister store in Stratford when that opened in the late 2000s.

The black and white print jumpsuit is quite a statement isn’t it? It was worn by the artist Jill Richter for her wedding in May 1965, and while trousers had become acceptable as informal wear for women in the 30s, in the 60s trousers were still considered inappropriate for women’s professional lives or for formal occasions. Which seems unimaginable today.

The blue and green chiffon dress in the photo above dates from the summer of 1967 when it was sold and worn, Barbara said that they were determined that customers would be able to buy summer clothes in summer and autumn clothes in autumn, something we take for granted today. But it was interesting to learn that before the revolution of 1960s London fashion, clothes were investments, and this was a new way of thinking.

These dresses have a different feel don’t they - the blue one on the left is from 1970 and the exhibition notes say that it ‘captures the new mood at biba with the development of the Biba “Dolly Bird” of the mid-1960s into the Biba woman’ - language of its time, but definitely a more refined look. These were part of the Biba couture department which was dedicated to selling the high-end Biba range, and costing around ten times of standard Biba clothing - it only lasted for eighteen months though, closing in 1971.

It’s the second outfit (from the left) in the photo below that brings back memories - I’m sure mum made both herself and me a similar outfit to this for a wedding, though in different material to this, and to each other. I’m sure mine was a much simpler version, but I remember being proud to be wearing something so grown up!

The outfit next to it - the wrap-over top and skirt, is one of those I’d be happy to wear today, but actually it dates to 1972. The trouser suit on the right though, not so much!

These outfits are later, with the black dress printed with a carnation design dating to 1974 as does the floral dress in three colourways at the back of the photo. Again both designs that wouldn’t look out of place today, but also captures Hulanicki’s ideal Biba look of the period - almost reminiscent of the Cadbury’s Flake advert too, if you’re of a certain age!

And I’ll leave you with one final outfit - it’s bright and fun and no doubt made whoever wore it feel a million dollars.

Barbara Hulanicki and the Biba story started by dressing the girl on the street, but more was to come and the next part of the exhibition was dedicated to Biba as the world’s first lifestyle label - more on that soon.

Walking East Stoke's lanes: March 2025

As I said at the end of last month’s post I knew this one would be a bit of a bumper one, and so it’s turned out with four walks under my belt this month. One of those was a guided historic walk arranged and led by St Mary Magdalene Church in Newark where we visited the ancient battlefield and saw the memorial Burrand Stone which is sited on private land, and we learnt so much more of the fascinating history of where we live.

But before we get to that, the month started with a walk down School Lane and onto Church Lane down to the River Trent. The big news in the village is that the WI Hall is up for sale or to let, we’ve not been here long enough to know the history but I’ve heard from people outside of the village that there’s definitely a story there, but one we’ve yet to discover. And even if/when we do it’s most definitely not my story to share, but it will be good for the hall to have an active future, so I’m hopeful for that.

SCHOOL LANE

Our walk took us down School Lane and into Church Lane, but don’t be fooled by the blue skies, it was chilly! Just look at the broken ice on the grass verge alongside the puddles, and this was easily mid-morning. The trees reflected in the puddles almost made up for the chill though, almost.

CHURCH LANE

On reaching the River Trent I was keen to check the situation with the jetty, as you can see it was visible again in its entirety and very different to the photo I shared in January when only the tops of the posts were showing as the water levels were so high. It’s quite a difference, and it’s worth popping back to that post to check.

It was reassuring to see clumps of bulbs growing wild, with daffodils on the way with the snowdrops beginning to fade. There’s something special isn’t there about the spring bulbs, and for me especially the cheery daffodils.

As we retraced our steps towards the village, I had a quick peek at the sheep - only a quick peek as they’re quite inquisitive and stare back at you! I’m sure in the next month or so I’ll capture a lamb or two, and no doubt our village Facebook group will be reporting ‘escaped lambs’ as usual fairly soon.

Our second and fourth walks took us down Moor Lane, where we usually stop at the bridge - you’ll have seen the photo in previous posts - but with the weather warmer even for our second walk, just a week after the photos above, we carried on until the bend. Not round it, just to it!

The ditches which had been cleared last month already looked so much better for it, and more so as they started to dry out. Thankfully these skies were a fair bit warmer than those of last week’s walk down to the Trent, and the pylon surrounded by light wispy clouds looked a picture worth taking. This month was the month that the roadworks started on the A46 to add a new roundabout to connect it to the A1. We’ve eighteen months of the roadworks, which has meant much more traffic through our village as people try to find quicker routes - sadly that also means the 30mph speed limit is mostly ignored too.

This month’s view from the bridge looks almost spring-like doesn’t it? There’s still a large patch of mud in the field to the left, but there is also plenty of greenery. As it was so nice we carried on walking, setting the bend as our target - in actual fact it’s not that much further, so maybe it will become our regular turning point especially on the milder days.

What I love about where we live is that there’s always something different to see on these walks - and plenty that stops me for photos. Seed heads are so structural and look great against the blue wispy clouded sky. A week later and the clouds were different again - this time much lower, and more oppressive but equally as impressive.

And while it looked like rain might be imminent, we managed to stay dry. Not only that we caught a glimpse of blackthorn blossom too, which looks kind of strange with the grey moody skies.

Which leads me onto our third walk of the month, the guided walk I mentioned before. We were extremely lucky with the weather as it was another glorious day - I’d seen that a previous iteration of this walk took place in the autumn and the day wasn’t great, in fact it was very wet. I was so glad I hadn’t booked onto that one!

Yes, I’m mostly a fair weather walker through choice - though at times, you don’t always get that choice.

Quite a lot of this walk took place on private grounds with access from the farmer as arranged by the church, so while I can tell you our walk started from School Lane - the WI hut from the first picture - most of it won’t strictly be lanes.

As well as getting fantastic views across the landscape we were led to the place where it is believed that Henry VII placed his standard after the Battle of Stoke - the last battle in the War of the Roses. It’s said that here a Burrand Bush was planted, and much later that’s been marked with this stone. I’d heard of its existence, and am grateful to the farmer for providing access so that I could see it, a piece of history that not many people will see.

Of course for their to be a battle there needed to be opponents and its thought that they made their camp up towards the horizon in the photo below - not that it’s known for sure, or that you’d know it from my photo either. It looks a serene, quiet place doesn’t it?

It’s thought that many of those fighting for the contenders of the throne here back in 1847 lost their lives in the retreat over that horizon, which has a mighty drop into a ravine on the other side, which is known locally as the Red Gutter. Some say it’s name is from the river of blood, others say it’s from the colour of the soil there - the first sounds a lot more grisly though doesn’t it.

We walked along to the public footpath which took us down to the River Trent and walked across the field where we’ve walked many times before (though usually the other way!) this time knowing much more of the history of the site.

But not before noticing this large branch which had clearly come down in the wind (and travelled a fair distance too) and before crossing a large muddy area across the path, which wasn’t ideal for the mud-hating me. But grimacing and slipping through it was the only way. It was great to hear more about our very local history, and if you ever get the chance to go on that guided walk in the future, do - it’s most definitely worth it.

Thanks for joining me for this update, if you enjoyed this post you may also like to see all of the posts in this series.

My lime blue diamonds hand sewn quilt

Much earlier in the year I set out my quilt plans for 2025 with number 6 on the list being:

6. My English Paper Piecing (EPP) blue diamonds

This is my hand sewing project which I’ll take to my monthly sewing group evening meetings, and no doubt will pick up in between those too, as it’s a good project for keeping my hands busy. The diamonds are small - I like a challenge, clearly! - and I’m using pre-loved fabric for this. The central diamonds will be various blues from MOH’s old shirts - some patterned, some plain and each of these will be outlined with bright lime diamonds, which is material left over from another project long ago.

As the diamonds are small, my updated plan is to place much larger diamonds between the hand sewn blocks, which will help with progress! I’ve got an old embroidered tablecloth which I bought on eBay for this - which may be a bit controversial for some cutting this up, but I’m ok with it. Whether or not I’d cut up a family heirloom is another matter, but that’s not something I need to consider for this project.

Introducing my EPP project

As I said it’s a hand sewing project, but one which needs to be pretty portable so for this I’m using my Yarnivore project bag from Vicki Brown Designs a while back - and while it’s not descriptive of the contents, it’s a great size for this project. I’m able to include a mini cutting board, a pouch full of threads and a glue stick, plus the material covered diamonds which are ready to sew and quite a few which have already been sewn.

And yes, the diamonds are pretty small - they’re about two inches in length. I bought the white templates from eBay as my patience doesn’t extend to cutting those too!

The blues I’m using are all from MOH’s old shirts and the lime green is from my stash. I like the colours together and have been playing with layouts, even though it’s early days - I’ve only eighteen completed, and I’m going to need quite a few more.

Through testing the layouts I realised i liked it when there’s a plain blue ‘star’ interspersed with the patterned ‘stars’ like in the image below.

And to mock up how the gaps could be filled I’ve used the white diamond templates. These will be a large diamond, not four as shown in this image, and that’s where the new-to-me vintage table cloth will come it, not that I’ve been brave enough to cut it yet. I’m biding my time and will switch to that when I’m fed up of the lime blue diamonds.

Clearly lime blue isn’t a colour, but it’s the working name for my quilt as that’s what I see - and it’s stuck. Once it’s all together, and I’m not sure how big I’m aiming for, then we’ll see if the name still works. I’m also thinking that I might add further adornments, perhaps buttons, perhaps beads but that’s a decision for another day.

I’ll update you again when there’s more than just my lime blue diamonds, which may not be for a while!