Beyond BIBA

Beyond Biba Trailer from November Films on Vimeo.

Random facts about BIBA

-Biba was an iconic and popular fashion store in the 1960s and 1970s. It was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon.
-Biba's early years were rather humble with many of the outfits being cheap and available to the public by mail order. Biba’s postal boutique had its first significant success in May 1964 when it offered a pink gingham dress to readers of the Daily Mirror. The dress had celebrity appeal as a similar dress had been worn by Brigitte Bardot. By the morning after the dress was advertised in the Daily Mirror, it had received over 4,000 orders. Ultimately, some 17,000 outfits were sold.
-The Biba Look’ or 'Dudu Look' was ‘fresh little foals with long legs, bright faces and round dolly eyes.’ Barbara Hulanicki describes her customers as ‘postwar babies who had been deprived of nourishing protein in childhood and grew up into beautiful skinny people: a designer's dream. It didn’t take much for them to look outstanding.’ These women were mostly teenagers or twenty year olds, who wanted to have clothes that looked good on them.
-The Biba logo played a crucial part in Biba’s success, the logo was gold and black which reflected the growing taste in youth for art deco.

The film is trying to explore the after-Biba life of Barbara Hulanicki as in 1975 the store was eventually closed. Barbara moved to Miami and still works as a successful and respected interior designer. Definitely a film to watch as Barbara Hulanicki changed the face of UK fashion during the 60s and 70s!

sources: googleimages,wikipedia,beyondbibamovie.com