Barbara Hulanicki

An iconic figure in British fashion, Barbara Hulanicki founded the now-legendary Biba boutique with her late husband in 1964. Striking a chord with an increasingly hip and free-thinking public, Biba became synonymous with swinging London in the 1960s and 1970s and was a popular hangout for artists, film stars and rock musicians, including Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull.

Biba evolved from being a small shop in Abingdon Road to an elaborate five-story Art Deco department store with a restaurant and a roof garden overlooking High Street Kensington, with a successful make-up line selling in 33 countries across the world. After Biba finally closed its doors in 1976, Barbara continued to work in fashion, designing for fashion greats like Fiorucci and Cacharel and, for 12 years, designed a successful line of children’s wear, MiniRock, licensed to the Japanese market. She has also been a fashion photographer for the London Evening Standard, illustrated Sarah Ferguson’s wedding dress for the London newspapers, and designed costumes for several stage and film productions including clothing for Cathy McGowan on the cult live TV rock show Ready Steady Go (1964), as well as outfits for Julie Christie and Twiggy.

But Barbara Hulanicki is more than just a fashion guru – she’s also an incredibly prolific interior and exterior designer, designing for the likes of the Rolling Stones’ Ron Wood, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and – perhaps most significantly – Chris Blackwell and his Island Outpost Group: she is credited with single-handedly reconceiving Miami Beach’s re-emerging Art Deco District in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She has also created an impressive series of private luxury homes, restaurants, night clubs and super-clubs, including Who’s in the Grove, Sempers, Match Club and Bolero Restaurant. In 1993, Barbara won an award from the American Institute of Architects for her work on the Netherland hotel, as well as an award from an association of Florida Architects.

Back in the UK in 2008, Barbara created a range of wallpaper for Graham and Brown, as well as designing pillows, rugs and wallpaper for Habitat stores. The V&A Museum recently republished her memoirs From A to Biba and accompanied the book launch with a range of scarves, cards and jewellry all designed by Barbara. And last but not least, in April 2009, Barbara launched her Good Girl/Bad Girl collection at Topshop. She says of the collaboration “it was very like Biba, because it’s a natural way things have happened and grown. It’s the only way it works.”

A regular favourite at the Port Eliot Festival, Barbara will be returning in 2010 to do a special live collaboration with Luella Bartley, Stephen Jones, Anna Sui, Alex Box and Andrew Bolton in this year’s expanded Fashion Tent in the Walled Garden

www.barbarahulanickidesign.com

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Barbara Hulanicki talks about her work: