Bagni di Lucca and Beyond

While I was staying in London I visited the Fashion and Textile Museum. It is in Bermondsey, just around the corner from where I was staying. The Museum was founded in 2003 by Zandra Rhodes and is operated by the Newham College of Further Education.

The current exhibition, which continues until September 2024, is The Biba Story, 1964 – 1975. It explores how fashion phenomenon Biba blossomed to become the world’s first lifestyle label. In the summer of 1963, fashion illustrator Barbara Hulanicki established a mail order company which she named Biba, selling affordable fashion appealing to a new generation of young women.

A gingham dress kicked off the success of the new company in 1964. This one is a modern replica from the original 1964 pattern.

The photograph appeared in the Daily Mirror in May 1964. It was priced at 25 shillings. 17,000 were sold, a success for the new company.

The exhibition takes us thought the years of Biba, with clothing, accessories and illustrations…come for a walk through the history of Biba. I was a teenager in the 1960s and I remember much of this, even though the Gold Coast in Queensland was a long way from London.

I could wear that leopard print coat right now!

Hulanicki’s first success in fashion was in 1955, aged 18. She entered and won a newspaper competition with a design for a striped cotton beachwear outfit with contrasting white Eton collar. She revisited the design in 1966, updating it in a psychedelic printed cotton. I remember making a similar one in red and white cotton drill for myself in about 1967.

Everyone wanted boots in the 60s. I had a pair of white knee high boots and I thought I was Christmas.

Launched in 1970 at Kensington High Street, Biba cosmetics became the most successful range of Biba products that Hulanicki created. Within 2 years of their launch, Biba cosmetics were sold in more than 30 countries across 3 continents.

Barbara’s first career in 1957 as a fashion illustrator. She quickly established herself as a freelance fashion illustrator covering the Paris couture shows for publications such as Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Barbara realised how out of step current couturiers were out of step with the emerging world of youth culture and the lives of young women. In 1963 Barbara established Biba’s Postal Boutique.
On display was a selection of  her work from early fashion illustrations through to drawings produced for the Biba brand.

The Biba department store, 1969 – 73, on Kensington High Street, was the first step into the world of the big store. The 840 square metre retail store offered the complete Biba look for the individual and for the home, sellling clothing, accessories, cosmetics and furnishings. Biba became one of the most profitable stores, per square metre, in the world.

“It isn’t just selling dresses, it’s a whole way of life”…Barbara Hilanicki, 1970.

It was a delight to wander through this wonderful collection, a reminder of my teenage years.

It was also great to discover Bermondsey, a fascinating area of London, truly a special village in a big city. There are excellent shops and restaurants, making it a great place to browse for a few hours.

I loved the small grocery shop opposite the museum, The Giddy Grocer.

We had delicious lunch at a busy French restaurant, Casse-Croute.

Old industrial spaces have been converted to shops and studios and a market is held in the street, I must go back.

The Shard makes an appearance.

The area will be explored in much more detail on my next visit!