Join one of the original Biba girls and biographer of the brand, Delisia Howard, and the artist Chris Price as they take you on a trip through the history of the wildest shop in swinging London at this in-conversation with the author Travis Elborough.
Founded as a mail order business by Barbara Hulanicki in 1964, Biba, whose first boutique was established soon after in a former chemist’s on Abingdon Road in Kensington, became one of Swinging London’s most sought after, yet affordable, fashion brands. Their customers ranged from the hipper to hippie girls next door to the cream of the sixties pop mod aristocracy from Twiggy and Cilla Black to Cathy McGowan, the presenter of Ready Steady Go!. Biba rode into the glam rock 1970s in high style, opening their grandest and greatest boutique Big Biba in the old Derry and Toms department store on Kensington High Street in 1973. Its Rainbow Room hosted a legendary party for the New York Dolls that November and the likes of Billy Haley, the Pointer Sisters and Ian Dury performed there in cabaret. Yet two years later, the suits had stolen the show and the shop was shut, the building sold and Biba was gone.
The evening will reveal the story of the rapid rise and catastrophic collapse of the iconic London fashion brand. For fashions aficionados, it will also include a showcase of some vintage pieces from Biba’s back catalogues.
Link here for tickets
Travis Elborough 