Published: Thursday, February 23, 2006
Biba Reborn
By Samantha Conti
Biba's Deb Dress.
LONDON — For more than a decade, it was the store in Swinging London where Hollywood stars, British royalty, schoolgirls and secretaries could buy everything from maxi-coats to cherry red lipstick to baked beans.
Biba was London's first post-war department store — and the precursor to Topshop — a temple of fast-and-cheap fashion that drew customers ranging from Princess Anne to Twiggy, Brigitte Bardot, Julie Christie and Sonny and Cher.
Mick Jagger was a fan of Biba style, and Keith Richards was even known to wear little Biba jackets onstage. The store boasted everything from a restaurant, The Rainbow Room, to a food hall to a makeup counter and children's toy shop.
Barbara Hulanicki, Biba's Polish-born founder, had begun her career as a fashion illustrator, for publications including Vogue, Tatler and WWD.
After designing clothes for mail order catalogues, she and her husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon, opened Biba in 1964. It was an instant hit, and helped pioneer the idea of shopping as a fun, social activity.
But the store, which closed 11 years later, was most famous for its fashion, a blend of Art Deco, Victoriana and Hollywood glam — and its racks of bow blouses and piles of platform heels and floppy hats. Now it's making a comeback.
The ready-to-wear line, designed by Bella Freud, will show in Paris starting Feb. 27. Shoes, which have already launched for spring; hats designed by Christine Bec; jewelry by Fiona Knapp, and a handbag range will also bow this season.
"It's a unique English brand, but in a Seventies rock 'n' roll sort of way," said Michael Pearce, chief executive of Biba and creative director of the brand. "The style is all about falling over drunk, in a gutter, looking great and wearing black nail polish."
For this first season, Pearce and his team have taken iconic Biba pieces and freshened them up. There's the maxicoat with the side buttons and funnel neck, the short corduroy trench, the Art Deco swirl-print tunic, the high-necked silk bow blouse and printed dresses with bell sleeves.
There are also tailored suits in three different silhouettes, the famous cloche and floppy hats that defined an era (think Bianca Jagger) and the Biba Boot, an over-the-knee number made from elasticized suede with a chunky heel.
Pearce, whose background is in streetwear and footwear distribution (he was the importer and distributor of Ugg boots in the U.K.), said he was amazed by the lingering affection for Biba that exists today.
"You see people's eyes go misty when you mention the name, and there is a much higher awareness of the brand in the U.S. than I ever expected," Pearce said over a morning espresso in his clean and modern offices in Westbourne Grove.
Pearce, who holds the worldwide license for Biba (which is still owned privately by a family in the U.S.) said he and the team didn't have a huge archive from which to draw, however.
"Most of the original Biba fabrics were cheap, and had been thrashed to pieces from so much wear. What survived has already been shopped out by designers. So, in the end, we relied on two serious private Biba collectors in London."
Rtw prices range from 300 pounds, or $525, for a dress to 600 pounds, or $1,050, for a coat. Shoes range in price from 250 pounds, or $438, for the Biba Boot to 500 pounds, or $875, for shoes that are hand-painted with a clutch of flowers and vines.
The shoe collection, which bowed for spring, sells at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Linda Dresner, Jeffrey and Blake Chicago in the U.S. For fall, shoes are made from embossed velvets and leathers hand-painted in Romania by Romany gypsies.
Pearce is hoping buyers this season will embrace the entire collection — dangly, beaded costume jewelry and all.
"It's not like Gucci where you can just buy the bag. It's a 360-degree thing, and I think customers will want to embrace the whole Biba spirit."
Pearce has set his sights high for Biba, and the cheap fabrics and fast-fashion elements of the brand are gone forever. "Biba has the depth and authenticity to become a top, global brand in the premium sector," said Pearce. "It deserves to be in fashion's top league."
