On Thursday I was thrilled to meet the legend behind the original Biba, designer Barbara Hulanicki. The iconic Biba department store defined fashionable London in the Swinging Sixties and louche Seventies. The vast emporium which sold everything from accessible fashion, to make-up and pet food was an Art Deco / Art Nouveau / Victoriana influenced rock'n'roll disco palm tree filled fantasy. Plus there was a roof garden with flamingos.The details! Everyone hung out there from Bowie, Twiggy and the Stones to the fashion conscious girl-next-door. What an inspiration...
Barbara now lives in Miami where she designs interiors and has just completed a new line of clothes for Topshop which launches in April.
Still super chic, Barbara Hulanicki with me at the Rainbow Room ballroom where we had attended the Fashion Group International's Rising Star Awards , for which I had been nominated.
I love this photo. Barbara then; on the roof garden of Biba on Kensington High Street in 1973 with the infamous flamingos.
( Photo Desmond O'Neill )
