Biba

Biba dominated London fashion from the mid-1960s, and, for over a decade, it defined the dress and outlook of a generation. Celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of the first Biba boutique, this book takes a revealing look at Biba through the words and images of the people who were intimately involved with the company and its phenomenal success.

Established in 1963 as Biba Postal Boutique – a small mail-order company selling inexpensive clothing for women and children – by 1973 Biba was a seven-storey department store on London’s Kensington High Street. Customers could fill their wardrobes and furnish their home with Biba products; Biba had become the world’s first lifestyle label. Visitors to the store could buy a tin of Biba baked beans, take tea on Europe’s largest roof garden or watch live music from The New York Doll’s, Iggy Pop or Liberace in the 500-seat Rainbow Room. 

Created by Barbara Hulanicki and her husband, Fitz, Biba was made in the image of its staff and customers. Selling up-to-the-minute clothing at low prices, Biba appealed to teenagers and young women of the post-war generation, becoming the fashion destination of the Swinging Sixties and seventies. Biba was the place to be and to be seen; its doors were open to everyone, from The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithful and Twiggy to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury. 

Biba: The Fashion Brand the Defined a Generation includes photographs by Helmut Newton, Sarah Moon and Duffy, as well as never-before-seen ephemera from the personal archive of Barbara Hulanicki. Interviews with the people closest to Biba serve to bring these images and objects to life, while recollections and anecdotes from Barbara Hulanicki herself shine a new light on the very personal nature of Biba as a business.