Biba

Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon.

After the original company closed in 1975, Biba was relaunched several times, independently of Hulanicki. As of 2024 it was a brand of the House of Fraser. The company has been called an early practicer of the fast fashion business model.

Early years

Hulanicki worked as a fashion illustrator after studying at Brighton Art College in the late 1950s. In 1961 she married advertising executive Stephen Fitz-Simon and in 1963 they set up a Mail order fashion business selling inexpensive outfits. She named the company Biba's Postal Boutique; Biba was the nickname of her younger sister Biruta.[1]

The company had its first significant success in May 1964 when it offered a pink gingham dress with a hole cut out of the back of the neck with a matching triangular kerchief to readers of the Daily Mirror. The dress had celebrity appeal, as a similar dress had been worn by Brigitte Bardot. By the morning after the dress was advertised in the Daily Mirror, over 4,000 orders had been received. Ultimately, some 17,000 outfits were sold. Following this success, a shop was opened at 87 Abingdon Road in

Relaunches

There have been several attempts to relaunch Biba, the first occurring as soon after its closure as 1977.[25][26] There was another relaunch in the mid-1990s, with Monica Zipper as head designer.[27] Barbara Hulanicki has not been involved with any of these relaunches, and owing to the use of Biba's logo and similar labels, these garments are easy to pass off as original vintage pieces.[25]

The Biba label was relaunched again in May 2006 under designer Bella Freud. Again, Biba's founder, Barbara Hulanicki, was not contacted for the relaunch and said it was 'very, very painful', believing that the new Biba would 'betray its heritage.'[28] Freud's first collection Spring/Summer 2007 was unveiled at London Fashion Week in September 2006, and was criticised for straying from the original concept of low-priced clothes for teenagers, needing 'more polish',[29] as they 'had a Biba flavour but lacked the retro details that the original Biba designs had.'[30] Freud's second attempt, Autumn/Winter 2007 was also panned as 'the kind of thing that's already over-available in fast fashion chains.'[31] Freud left the company after just two seasons in June 2007 to relaunch her own label.[32] The Biba relaunch failed and the company went into administration for a second time in 2008.

House of Fraser (HoF) bought the company in November 2009 for a second relaunch by an in-house design team, announcing Daisy Lowe as the new face of the label.[33] Hector Castro and a five-strong team were selected to replace Freud[34] with couture hats created by Prudence Millinery.[35] This relaunch was highly successful, outselling House of Fraser's other in-house brands in just two weeks of its launch, boosting its year end sales.[36] Meanwhile, Hulanicki instead designed capsule collections for rival high-street company Topshop,[37][38] and once again expressed her unhappiness with the relaunch, attacking the new Biba as "too expensive" and "for failing to reflect the original Biba style".

In 2014, it was announced that Hulanicki would be a consultant to the Biba brand, after signing an agreement with House of Fraser.[41] Biba continued to be an HoF brand as of 2024.[42]

type	Private
fate	Closed by the British Land Company
foundation	August 1964 (first store opens)
founder	Barbara Hulanicki, Stephen Fitz-Simon
defunct	1975
location city	Kensington, London
location country	England
key people	Barbara Hulanicki, Stephen Fitz-Simon
industry	Fashion

Early years

Big Biba

Demise

Relaunches

Legacy

See also

Bibliography

External links

References