Biba - An inspiration

(Photo from Barbara Hulanicki)

Biba, to me is a fashion legend. Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon started Biba as a humble home-based mail order business in 1964. It was dramatic how Biba developed and transformed into a worldwide fashion phenomenon in a decade. Never mind that there wasn’t a happy ending - the whole Biba empire collapsed into bankruptcy in mid-seventies. This true rag to riches story is still very inspiring to me.

(Photo from malevagotica)

And when you thought that Biba clothing range was a huge success, her cosmetics range was an even bigger phenomenon. Biba cosmetics range was launched in 1970 and by 1973, they were selling in over 30 countries like USA, Italy and Japan. The Biba palettes were dramatically different from the normal makeup colours and they totally transformed what people perceived as acceptable colours on the face.

(Photos from Barbara Hulanicki)

“The cosmetics by now included blue, green, purple and black lipstick, with matching eyeshadows and contour powder for the cheeks. Wherever the girls went there was silence. Elly was completely blue: blue make-up, blue clothes, blue cap and blue curls. Eva was all green, Del all violet. Some girls were all in black, looking like Dracula.”

Quoted from: From A to Biba, The Autobiography of Barbara Hulanicki

(Screenshot photo from video by Lisa Eldridge)

I’m sure these Biba girls would stop me right in my paths too. All blue, all green and all violet? The Biba colours are unimaginable! I would love to see photos of these ladies who must have caused a huge public sensation. I couldn’t find any photos online but this fantastic makeup video by Lisa Eldridge (she’s my idol too!) would give you a glimpse of how intense and dramatic the Biba colours are.

I want to share two more quotes from Barbara Hulanicki’s book that I find very motivating.

“If you want something badly enough for long enough your wish will come true – often just as you have given up hoping. We had many wild dreams. … You can accomplish the impossible when you don’t look back and stop to think twice about what you are on the point of tackling.”

“One morning I woke up and decided to take the plunge. From now on all of me would go into this business monster. It had to be all or nothing. It wasn’t ambition, it was a desire to learn and see how large it would grow. The baby Biba was insatiable.”

(Photo from Barbara Hulanicki)

Barbara Hulanicki not only inspires me with her exceptional eye for beauty, creativity and style but also with her strong drive and will.

Don’t you daydream sometimes that you could be zapped back to the 60s for just a day and see Biba at her peak? I do.


♥ Ft