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. 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’.

In contrast to the futuristic styles and space age brightness of some sixties clothing, Hulanicki’s designs were inspired by the past. She created romantic, decadent garments for women swept up in the growing craze for vintage dresses. The Art Deco print of this maxi-length dress recalls the glamour and decadence of the 1930s, while the tight puffed sleeves and high collar are reminiscent of late nineteenth-century dress styles.