i 
this woman. she's so honest.
BARBARA HULANICKI'S split from Biba may have been difficult but she's putting it all behind her.
"It was very painful when it all first happened," she admits. "I had to go away to get myself back together and of course I miss all the designers terribly. But I have a new life now. I like living in America because everyone looks to the future, they don't look back all the time."
Hulanicki, who recently dismissed the House of Fraser's Biba relaunch is about to launch a new collection for George at Asda.
"The thing I didn't like about the new Biba relaunch was the prices - it is too expensive," she says. "With Asda it's the total opposite - it's like the old days in the Sixties. I love seeing people happily shopping without feeling guilty because they've spent too much. I want to do what I always have done - make clothes for young people living in bedsits. What was different about designing for Asda was creating pieces that go up to size 20. I had to do things in a different way - it was exciting."
Despite setting up the iconic Biba label in the Sixties, Hulanicki confesses that it wasn't all free love, peace and harmony.
"Actually me and all the designers of the time, like Zandra Rhodes and Mary Quant, all hated each other," she tells us. "We definitely didn't talk to each other, everyone was too busy making dresses. It was very basic and raw in those days. Parties were for musicians, not fashion designers."
How has the industry changed since she first began her career?
"What is different now is how designers have to come up with completely new ideas every time they show their collections," she says. "It must be terribly difficult. When Biba first opened we moved very fast and there was never enough to stock because our customers were always so hungry, but there was never this massive shift from autumn/winter to spring/summer that there is today. You would change the chiffon summer dresses to coats and jackets but your style would still be the same. It was a much simpler way of working."
vogue.co.uk
this woman. she's so honest. BARBARA HULANICKI'S split from Biba may have been difficult but she's putting it all behind her.
"It was very painful when it all first happened," she admits. "I had to go away to get myself back together and of course I miss all the designers terribly. But I have a new life now. I like living in America because everyone looks to the future, they don't look back all the time."
Hulanicki, who recently dismissed the House of Fraser's Biba relaunch is about to launch a new collection for George at Asda.
"The thing I didn't like about the new Biba relaunch was the prices - it is too expensive," she says. "With Asda it's the total opposite - it's like the old days in the Sixties. I love seeing people happily shopping without feeling guilty because they've spent too much. I want to do what I always have done - make clothes for young people living in bedsits. What was different about designing for Asda was creating pieces that go up to size 20. I had to do things in a different way - it was exciting."
Despite setting up the iconic Biba label in the Sixties, Hulanicki confesses that it wasn't all free love, peace and harmony.
"Actually me and all the designers of the time, like Zandra Rhodes and Mary Quant, all hated each other," she tells us. "We definitely didn't talk to each other, everyone was too busy making dresses. It was very basic and raw in those days. Parties were for musicians, not fashion designers."
How has the industry changed since she first began her career?
"What is different now is how designers have to come up with completely new ideas every time they show their collections," she says. "It must be terribly difficult. When Biba first opened we moved very fast and there was never enough to stock because our customers were always so hungry, but there was never this massive shift from autumn/winter to spring/summer that there is today. You would change the chiffon summer dresses to coats and jackets but your style would still be the same. It was a much simpler way of working."
vogue.co.uk
