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Dress and pinafore
Biba - Enlarge image
Dress and pinafore
- Place of origin:
Great Britain, United Kingdom (made)
- Date:
ca. 1971 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Biba (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Printed Viyella
- Credit Line:
Given by Suzanne Pegley
- Museum number:
T.472, 473-1993
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Barbara Hulanicki and her husband John Fitz Simon set up Biba in 1963 as a mail order boutique. The success of their affordable, youthful designs enabled them to open a small shop in Abingdon Road in Kensington the following year. Many of London’s fashionable new boutiques catered only for well-off customers (Mary Quant’s Bazaar, for example), but Biba attracted glamorous pop stars, bohemian aristocrats and impoverished students alike.
By 1971 the Biba boutique had grown into a lare store stocking a wide range of Biba merchandise. There were separate departments for menswear, childrenswear and household accessories. Barbara Hulanicki designed all the clothes and retained control of the colour co-ordination of all other products. This dress, with its swirling paisley design, is typical of the palette used for Biba's 'Granny' prints.
