I know, we don’t have usually little heart-to-heart here on misslikey about exhibitions or events, but when it comes to Biba, hardly any of the rules could apply. In fact, I believe that it would be sin not the mention that currently there is great fashion exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery that celebrates all things Biba and Beyond. The exhibition's aim is not just to tell a story about Biba, clothes, lifestyle, but to cover everything connected to this revolutionary brand and its and far reaching influence. Through illustrations, film, fashion, music, photography, ephemera and memories of visitors, intention is also to offer retrospective of Barbara Hulanicki’s fashion career, her childhood and views on fashion.
Barbara came to Brighton (“sleepy town in these days”, she tells) in 1948, where she attended Brighton Art College. In 1955 Young Hulanicki won beachwear design competition held by London Evening Standard. She left college during second year and started to work as freelance fashion illustrators for various fashion publications, including Tatler and Vogue. She worked also in London office of Women’s Wear Daily. With her partner and husband Stephan Fritz-Simon Barbara started small mail-order business. The pink gingham dress, offered in Daily Mail was the item that prompted the opening of the first Biba shop in Kensington in 1964.
