Womenswear | anna-e-morris

Category: Womenswear

On Thursday night I attended an event at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery to coincide with their new exhibition Biba and Beyond: Barbara Hulanicki. Fashionably Late, was an evening of cocktails, dressing up, nail art and general vintage fun, as well as the chance to wander round the exhibition at night to the sounds of indie pop provided by DJ Dynamite Sal. The exhibition celebrates the work of Biba designer and creator Barbara Hulanicki, her work at Biba, as well as her work before and since.

Before there was Topshop there was Biba!

Biba was one of the first examples of fashion created for young women. We take for granted the availability of young fashion in today’s youth obsessed culture, however in the 60s and 70s young women and teenagers tended to go straight from children’s clothing to a version of the styles worn by their mothers. Biba was differnet, the clothes were cut close and short, originally to suit Hulanicki’s own narrow frame and appealed to the tastes of teenagers and young women. The Biba ‘Dolly Girl’ originating in Hulanicki’s idiosyncratic illustrations and brought to life in iconic photography by Sarah Moon, was a dreamlike girl influenced by ‘Art Deco, Victorian and Hollywood glamour all combined in striking, romantic and sensual designs’ and captured the imagination of a generation of girls. The Biba world was one of the first examples of a ‘lifestyle’ brand, so common on todays high-street. Biba sold make-up, accessories, stationary and everything else the Biba girl was likely to ever need. Biba’s influence is still felt on the British high-street, without Biba there would be no Topshop, the inspiration is seen in the highstreet mecca, a one-stop shop for everything a young fashion obsessed girl could dream of.

Biba Make-Up: Metallics, jewel-tones and Art Deco style packaging

Everything under the sun: Biba Stationary and Accessories, signature black and gold

Hulanicki’s long standing relationship with Brighton makes this exhibition particularly special. Hulanicki studied Fashion Illustration at what is now The University of Brighton’s art school, which she visited last year to give a talk in the Sallis Benney theatre which I was lucky enough to attend and meet the lady herself. The first Biba shop was opened on Queen’s Road, a photo of which is included in the exhibition. The exhibition also includes some sweet personal stories from women who remember shopping at Biba.

Biba and Beyond: Barbara Hulanicki – Brighton Museum & Art Gallery till 14th April 2013

July 6, 2012

University of Brighton, Graduate Fashion Show 2012: Backstage

Dressing room

Dressing room view from above

The day of the show started early and was spent mainly running around in awe of the immense venue we suddenly found ourselves in charge of, I had previously viewed the space but to have control over how to use it was an exciting prospect. We arrived at the venue mid morning and waited for the arrival of our brave classmates who had been charged with driving our precious final collections in the van up from Brighton. Meanwhile we assembled benches, began putting together the exhibition and carried a couple of seriously heavy tables up two flights of stairs. Once the collections (and our classmates) had arrived safely we began arranging the dressing room and organising models through hair (which was kindly provided by the team at Charles Worthington) and makeup. The day went fairly smoothly with only minor moments of panic and the dress rehearsal allowed more time for changes than we’d expected. The first show was over before we knew it and then we had a brief time slot in which to mingle with industry members at the drinks reception in the gallery space. Then it was onto friends and family, this show was more relaxed with large amounts of wooping and celebration after we took our final walk around after the models. We then joined our friends and family in attending to the drinks upstairs, before hurriedly packing up the collections, washing out the 500 glasses and shoving everything back into the van and jumping on a train back to Brighton to meet the van at the other end. The day was an exciting, challenging and exhausting experience, a fitting end to our four years studying Fashion at the University of Brighton.