Barbara Hulanicki opened Biba, a small fashion boutique, in Kensington in 1964 providing a cheap street fashion alternative for London 20-somethings.

The ‘Biba Look’ or ‘Dudu Look’ was ‘fresh little foals with long legs, bright faces and round dolly eyes.’ Barbara Hulanicki describes her customers as ‘postwar babies who had been deprived of nourishing protein in childhood and grew up into beautiful skinny people: a designer’s dream. It didn’t take much for them to look outstanding.’ These women were mostly teenagers or twenty year olds, who wanted to have clothes that looked good on them. All the Biba girls remember how women over thirty years old were considered old in the Biba store, and probably felt isolated as these girls felt in other stores. The employees were from the same demographic; among them at one point was a young Anna Wintour, later editor of Vogue.

The Biba look consisted of what Hulanicki called “Auntie Colours” - Hulanicki described them as ‘look[ing] like a funeral.’ These colours were blackish mulberries, blueberries, rusts and plums. (read more)

By the 70’s Biba had grown so much that it moved into a 7-story department store and began selling children’s clothing, home furnishings, and even pet food in addition to its women’s fashion line. Customers included Twiggy, Sonny and Cher, Mick and Biana Jagger and other 60’s icons. That store closed in 1975 and so ended first label to make street fashion hip and cool. Until….

Biba Now

The most recent relaunch of the Biba label was in 2006 with designer Bella Freud. The long dress above is part of the Spring/Summer ’08 collection and is a product of the new design team headed by Hector Castro, Artistic Director - and is actually my favorite from this collection.

So over forty years later, who’s the typical Biba customer? Nostalgic baby-boomers? I doubt it. Young 20-somethings looking for a fresh new style? Probably not.

Want to see more Biba?

• Biba - the experience
• Bibacollection.co.uk - Pari’s Biba site
• Biba House - Notting Hill home of fashion icon Barbara Hulanicki
• Biba the Musical (!)