Barbara Hulanicki and her husband John Fitz Simon launched the Biba label in 1963, initially selling clothes by mail order through newspaper advertisements. The success of their affordable, youthful designs enabled them to open a small shop in Abingdon Road the following year. As the business expanded they relocated to ever grander premises in the Kensington area. The atmosphere was unique. Loud music, stylish staff, chaotic communal changing rooms and dimly-lit period interiors: these defined a new kind of shopping experience.

London’s fashionable new boutiques tended to cater only for well-off customers, but at Biba the clothes were much cheaper, so young working women could shop alongside models, singers and TV celebrities. Twiggy, Cilla Black and Ready Steady Go! presenter Cathy McGowan were all loyal customers. In April 1966, the American news magazine Time published a special edition celebrating ‘London: The Swinging City’. It named Biba as ‘the most In shop for gear ... a must scene for the switched-on dolly-bird at least twice a week’.

Many women living outside London made special trips to the capital just to buy the latest Biba outfit. From 1968, however, they could shop through the mail order catalogue instead. At this time mail order was usually associated with cumbersome catalogues and frumpy clothes whose main attraction was that they could be bought on credit. Hulanicki recruited graphic designer John McConnell to create a slim, stylish catalogue with more of a magazine editorial feel. This outfit was sold for £4 15s 6d, about half a week's wages for a young shop assistant. All Biba merchandise was despatched in attractive branded packaging.