Alwyn W Turner
Biba: The Biba Experience
Издательство: Antique Collectors' Club, 2007 г.
978-1-85149-541-2
Книгопечатная продукция
Объем: 240 стр.
As a teenager in the late 1960s I thought Biba was the last word in fashion. The really surprising thing is that, nearly 40 years later, I can see I was right. How often can we say that about our teenage opinions?
The legendary Barbara Hulanicki, with her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon (always known as Fitz), founded the company as a mail order business in 1964 although it quickly opened its own shop, such was its popularity.
Although many of the people who bought its clothes and other products wouldn`t know Art Nouveau or Art Deco from a hole in the ground, Biba`s fusing of these styles with contemporary design combined with a dash of Hollywood`s golden age, made it the most fashionable label of the time and helped London`s image as the hippest place in the world.
Perhaps the thing that those of us around at the time remember best is the Biba department store in Kensington High Street. The company took over the old Derry & Toms` store and its seven floors of Biba products were displayed in a setting that most of us had never seen before. There, ordinary people rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous like Mick and Bianca Jagger, Sonny and Cher and Yoko Ono. Its secret, apart from stunning design, was that everything was affordable for people on average wages.
In 1969 the business had been made into a limited company, Biba Ltd, with Barbara and Fitz keeping 25% of the shares, while the chain store Dorothy Perkins had 35%. The end came through a combination of clashes with the Dorothy Perkins, by 1974 under new management, and the dire downturn in the British economy.
Biba: The Biba Experience centres on newly commissioned photographs of the largest collection of Biba in the world, put together by Pari, who began collecting Biba in the 1980s and has accumulated just under 500 pieces of Biba fashion items and ephemera covering the entire history of the company. Everything from dresses and trouser suits through original sketches and patterns to playing cards and soap powder is represented. Pari acquired a taste for decadent style while growing up in the environment of her aunt`s prestigious striptease night club in the `70s. This lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced book is intended for those interested in fashion and graphic design of the `60s and `70s, from a creative and historical standpoint, plus the huge number of people who remember Biba from the period with such affection.
Формат: 24 см x 28 см.
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