I was a child in the 70’s and growing up on Kensington High Street I was a regular visitor to the BIBA shops, one of my favourite memories was the shop on Church Street…before ‘The Big BIBA’. We would go to BIBA and then be taken to Dino’s or The Cherry Pie; a cafe/restaurant on Church Street for Rum Baba or some such other treat…fabulous. I remember clearly some of the clothes I had from BIBA, primarily I think because shopping in BIBA, especially the big shop was such an immersive experience and like no other of the time. You remember finding the items, often in random places where another shopper had abandoned it in favour of something new that caught their eye and that they liked even more; enough to abandon the thing they were clutching. Then you remember the busy buzz, the smells the noise and chatter and the sheer opulence of the shops. It was dark inside. The clothes where fun and frivolous, the colours, fabrics…everything was unlike other shops and searching out my mother to ask for money or hand over the crumpled items I had been grasping and dragging her to the till felt like success. The white paper carrier bags, with their fold over top gave way to black plastic bags and gold logo and opened regularly as I peeked at my treasures within on the walk home, the moment we were home I would try on my purchases and no matter what it was, that was my outfit for the day. I would often been seen playing out in a bikini on Addison Bridge Place, but in those days that was not unusual. They were different times. They were, for me, perfect times.

Biba Kensington Church Street c.1965 George Freston copy

Last week I went to the BIBA exhibition at The Fashion & Textile Museum; I could not have missed it. It did not disappoint and I successfully recaptured those days of my childhood. What there was no mention of in the record of the brand was that they were the first fast fashion brand. They mentioned they were the first lifestyle brand but there was a rose-tinted approach. No mention of the poor manufacture quality, the near total lack of quality control and the disposible nature of the garments. I would often have holes in my new purchases, it did not matter, but it should not be ignored.

Before the exhibition, I was not aware of the story behind the early failure of the brand. BIBA, it seems did everything fast including running itself off a Cliff before it could fly. It was a feeling, a brand that captured the optimism and desire for change of a generation but like so many other textile ventures it was too willing to sell its soul to someone who would not care for it. The romance, the hope, the sheer exuberance of BIBA was, it turns out, sacrificed on the alter of commerce…how commonplace! Many years ago, in my tiny fashion and textile dream I learned it is not about how big you are but how free you are and how much control you have of your dream. I have loved my 30 years in textiles, not a penny borrowed, small, unknown and happy. I would not trade what I have for the ‘success’ of any brand.

The first fast fashion brand, poorly made cheap clothing. It just never realised it because it was couched in so much glamour, but it was unsustainable…just like fast fashion today.

I do not see the brand with the nostalgia captured in the exhibition, I do hold dear the feelings I experienced while in their stores and wearing their clothes, to this day I consider the silhouettes of the BIBA of my youth and they do only work on straight-up-an-down bodies, the youthful and slim. Today, the body shape of most is not that of the early 1970’s and many of the designs would not work in anything above a size 12. Possibly why that was the brands cut-off size back in the day. BIBA entered the children’s wear market late in its life, after the founder Bárbara Hulanicki had children of her own.

The original BIBA was a short but sweet affair; I was almost 2 when the brands success was born via The Daily Mirror! and just 12 when the party was over. Although I think for those on the inside the party was over long before the door shut.

There have been many attempts to resurrect BIBA, all have failed miserably; possibly because you cannot capture the essence of BIBA by using the well trodden path of copy-cat, rip-off the fashion industry is built on. It was not about the clothes alone, it was the time, the passion of Bárbara Hulanicki, the devil-may-care attitude to everything, not just clothing and it was the time, the era, the rock-and-roll, glam rock, fuck-you to social and political norms it was a melting pot of everything and nothing, that worked because it was so avant guard there was nothing to compare it too. Everything they have tried to do in the name of BIBA since must be held up against the original BIBA and is a poor comparison.

Now; in 2024, at 87 Bárbara Hulanicki is part of the BIBA brand for the first time since it closed it doors 50 years ago. Now owned by House of Fraser, the brand is still trying to find the soul it lost so long ago. Considering the soulless bastard that owns HoF it is highly unlikely to succeed, even with the founder on board.

The Big BIBA gave me a love of clothes, interior decoration and endorsed by love of snoopy. I have had a snoopy doll since I was a baby, I have him today, he often came with me to BIBA. Today he has a specially made Never Mind The Bollocks T-shirt! I found there a passion for life, no matter how it is dressed and a freedom to do whatever I wanted. Playing in the snoopy house, the carousel, sitting on the toadstools, drinking tea in the roof gardens are BIBA, they will never recreate it, the current generation have an overload of stimulation and it is hard-wired digital not textile-soft. The Rainbow room is a gym. The roof garden, the crowning glory of a glorious place is possibly the best reflection of how BIBA yesterday is nowhere to be found in society today. Kensington Roof Gardens is a story in its own right, originally opened circa 1938, designed by landscape architect Ralph Hancock. The then vice-president of the Barkers department store, Trevor Bowen commissioned them. Hancock was fresh from delivering the "Gardens of the Nations" on the 11th floor of the RCA Building in New York, they really only lasted in their original format for a few years; now very little of the gardens remain. It is remarkable and fabulous the Kensington Roof Garden, the largest in Europe, has survived. Until recently, the current leaseholder Stephen Fitzpatric, owner of OVO energy, the gardens have always been open to the public. Even under the most recent previous leaseholder Richard Branson and the Virgin group it was open to the public. Now is it a private members club, reopened in 2024, following 3 years of renovation and, I believe, the removal of all wildlife, you now need to pay £2000.00 a year to visit the gardens. I contacted them earlier this year, I wanted to visit once they reopened. I was told in no uncertain terms it is a members only club and the cost of entry is £2000.00 a year, with no current plans to make the gardens accessible to non-members. And who owns the freehold for Barkers? That is the Henning Conle; with finances are shrouded-in-mystery he also owns other landmark London buildings including Liberty, Eighty Strand (formally Shell Mex House). The world is now owned by a few beyond the scrutiny or laws of the many; who write their own rules by which the rest of us must play. BIBA, the freedom, the inclusivity, the joyous celebration of freedom is firmly in the past, it will never come again to the position is only held because the world that gave birth to the concept and reality of BIBA is long since gone. The BIBA I remember will never come again, no matter who is on the board or in the atelier. But, it was lovely to revisit.

BIBA…the original fast fashion

Time Flies

Pearls…