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.

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.