The Biba lifestyle brand

The Biba Story exhibition at Zandra Rhodes’ Fashion & Textile museum was definitely worth a visit, and told Barbara Hulanicki’s story through fashion illustrations and some of the wonderful outfits, but it also claimed that Biba was the first world’s lifestyle label, which is quite a claim.

Today our lives are full to the brim of brands which aim to encompass every part of our life, and as with anything some stay around while others come and go. But imagine trailblazing in that area and the reactions you’d get.

As the show notes said ‘Barbara Hulanicki began by ‘dressing the girl in the street; by 1973 she had fashioned Biba into a lifestyle’. The first non-clothing Biba product was a 1967 diary, which included recommendations for other places of interest for Biba customers to visit.

The Biba department store on Kensington High Street had departments for clothes, furnishings, wallpapers and cosmetics all in the distinctive Biba colour palette. By 1973 you could eat, sleep and breathe Biba, from newborn babies to adult, with products for the home and garden - and in-store dining and food for the home too.

And it was great to see some of these items on display.

The display started off as you might expect - a vanity case, some tights and then there were the diaries and address books. An ashtray and matches, plus packs of cards and some lights too - the silver coloured one in the centre caught my eye, reminding me of a lamp I had. On reflection its nothing like this lamp, mine was white ceramic with a frosted glass sphere in front of the female holding up her skirt. I thought it was super elegant, and kept it for many years even though the frosted glass sphere shattered at some point along the way.

Biba was clearly an aspirational brand, just look at those soups: Consommé, Lobster, Vichyssoise, Shark’s Fin, Bird’s Nest and Real Turtle - no mock turtles here! Even the names of those soups transport me back to my childhood, not that I think we ever ate any of those, or maybe we did and it was described by my parents as ‘chicken soup’!

And what decadent jars for the pulses - yellow split peas, chickpeas, red lentils and haricot beans, condiments chutneys, including sweet spiced walnuts.

The booze is also of its time isn’t it - cherry, red currant and blackberry wines (and more which I can’t quite make the labels out), plus of course roasted & salted mixed nuts, or pistachios - all very ‘To the Manor Born’.

But it was the eyeshadow palette that looked most familiar to me, and clearly I’ve never owned one so perhaps mum had one - but as well as the makeup, there’s brushes, creams and potions I’m sure for every conceivable use.

What an absolute discovery of an exhibition, and what a time to experience the start of lifestyle brands as we’re oh so familiar with today.

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.

The Biba Story: Fashion Illustrations

As you know when I pop down to London for a visit I like to combine the primary purpose of my trip with a bit of culture. Sometimes that’s a walk around the shops in Regent Street, and sometimes if I can I like to combine it with visiting an exhibition. Last summer (yes, I know it’s taken a while to share these) I was able to do just that and dragged MOH along to the Biba exhibition at the Fashion & Textiles Museum in Bermondsey. Which despite growing up and living in London until a year or so before I’d never been to, but that’s how it goes sometimes isn’t it.

It’s a great museum, and one I’m sure I’ll be back to in the future. If you’ve not discovered this already it’s ‘the only UK museum dedicated to showcasing contemporary fashion and textile design’ and was set up by Dame Zandra Rhodes in 2003, and is housed in a very distinctive, and very Zandra building - it’s definitely easy to spot as you approach it!

I’d heard of Biba, the shops and the clothes, but didn’t really know much more as in the mid-seventies I was under ten years old, which is a pretty good excuse I’d say! But I knew how iconic it was, and was keen to learn more - and while it wouldn’t be the number one thing that MOH would choose to go to, he was happy to come along, which was just as well as I’d got him a ticket!

The exhibition shares the Biba story from 1964 when the first Biba Boutique opened to 1975 when the legendary Big Biba closed its doors; it explores 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.

In this post I’m sharing some of the fashion illustrations by Barbara Hulanicki who established a mail-order company selling affordable fashion appealing to a new generation of young women. I’ll share more of the clothes and the lifestyle brand in future posts next month.

Barbara had a natural aptitude for art, and that became her refuge following the assassination of her father. She studied fashion at Brighton Art School (now the University of Brighton) and started her first career as a fashion illustrator in 1957 where she covered the Paris couture shows for publications such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as working on British newspapers.

The show notes said that ‘as one of the most in-demand fashion illustrators of the period’ she had close contact with those putting on the couture shows, and their collections and she realised ‘how out of step they were with the emerging world of youth culture and the lives of young women’.

What’s interesting to me is seeing how the illustrations change, the earlier ones which I assume are from the couture shows are of designs which are much more formal - and very reminiscent of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ even though the film wasn’t released until 1961, based on the novella published in 1958, so I may need to revise my thoughts on who influenced who!

The illustration on the left below from circa 1963 still retains some of that formality, but the other two images are much more informal - and the central one especially includes bold colours and patterns.

It was in 1963 that Barbara established Biba’s Postal Boutique whilst continuing with her career as a fashion illustrator - and what’s also fascinating to me is how many of these styles, both the formal and more informal designs, could still easily be worn today - and in fact probably are!

My favourite illustration from this part of the exhibition is the one above. Doesn’t the colour and the design just sing out, and oh to have that much talent for designing and drawing these too.

It was truly a fascinating exhibition, and looking back over my photos, it was great to be able to go along and see so much of the story first hand - I’ll share more next month of the clothes and the Biba lifestyle brand, and I’m sure some of the clothes influenced clothes I wore growing up as even though I wasn’t yet in double figures the styles were very familiar.