Adam & Eve

Barbara Hulanicki discusses the evolution of Biba and design

Biba was a precursor to stores like Gap, Top shop and H&M you saw something missing in the market and went for it.

Well, the thing was that I am very fortunate to live in a period when there was nothing there. One could literally do whatever you thought was right, there were no dreadful corporate meetings, you were of the market and you knew what the market wanted, there was no need for lots of people doing research and so on. It was straight form the heart.

Would you say your partnership with Stephen Fitz-Simon was a key part of the business?

Oh terribly important, he let me get on with my side of it which was pretty fulfilling and he did the other side, not unless you can really trust somebody will it work. We had an equal spread. What was wonderful about Fitz was he pretended he did not know anything about fashion and once things started selling he never wanted to crowd me in any way. I had to be completely spontaneous about everything that happened, very clever of him really.

I found a lovely quote from your son regarding cotton jersey that was shrinking on the rack, and as they shrank people bought more.

The beginning of the mini skirt in the streets I tell you, it really was the truth. I thought, oh my god it's a disaster we are going to go bankrupt, I went home to weep, to lick my wounds. Later Fitz rang me from the shop saying don't cry they are walking out the door. The shorter they got the more they were selling.

I also read that you put the stock that was not selling near the door for shoplifters to take, I thought that was ingenious.

Believe me they did not steal those, they weren't very good. The ones that didn't sell usually had something ethically wrong with them. If you are producing something, 40% of the stock comes in very wrong. That is a nightmare, but it is your choice to put it in the shop and it is people's choice to buy it. They don't have to buy it if they think there is something wrong with it, whilst I might think there is something wrong with it they might love it. Also we didn't have a lot of choice in those days our customers were so thirsty for anything that was fashionable and young and there was nothing else.

What was happening with other designers in the late 60's

Well there was a huge rag-trade but my beef was that I was doing fashion illustration for major magazines for at least 2 or 3 years and they kept sending me these clothes that were supposedly for the young and they were the most awful shapes. It was a real con, I had to draw them looking young and lovely. And this is what the frustration was all about. You were earning money and you had a job that was supposedly fashion and you couldn't buy any clothes, or shoes or anything.

Anna Wintour worked for you at Biba?

Oh, she was a little kiddy, yes. She was in on Saturdays, probably learning about the nitty gritty, clever girl though.

Style icons. You listed people like Esther Williams, Audrey Hepburn, and Grace Kelly. Who would be a style icon for our time, as you mentioned earlier that the 60's were perfect for creating something new, at the moment I would say that the public look to Hollywood for style, however it is devoid of style.

That Hollywood thing I just hate because it is not them, it is done by stylists and all to do with money, those girls are never developing any style of their own which is very sad. I think today's only stylish person is Kate Moss, because she has the advantage of seeing the very luxury stuff. She can throw the whole lot together and that is the essence today, not to be too neat, too scruffy just to be knowledgeable about fashion.

The move to interiors was a logical move after designing the Biba store

Yes, Biba was about the interiors and the ambience and then it was like, oh what clothes should we put in here now? Yes, I am totally open to new things and it just kind of flew in my lap.

Are you inspired by any architects or designers?

I find architects a little bit too bland for me, they always have that white sofa in there, it is always a battle against that. It is the sofa and the painting behind it. I think it is a general ignorance of the public, but they are catching up. I feel terribly strongly that it is all coming back, the interest I mean. I think people are terrified of making mistakes, of being looked at and scrutinised. I find that in America with fashion, no one will do anything individual, it is whatever is being dictated by I do not know what or who because if you go into an American mall they all have exactly the same colours, all in groups and they have like two or three colours, this year it was turquoise, coral and white which is okay, you know you think how has that happened. They are just completely terrified of coming out of the box, the style box.

I heard Biba was to be resurrected

They have gone into bankruptcy, everyone who has taken it over usually gets two years. It needs the energy. It wasn't about cute dresses, it was much more of a social statement, although it wasn't conscious when we were doing it. If you do something right in any period, people will flock to it.

The people that were there that I have read about that were hanging out in the stores, they were friends of yours before the store opened?

No, they just gravitated and they weren't famous then, which was nice. They were part of the society that was around. I am sure it is what is happening now, in London, or wherever, particularly more in London as it seems to be more active socially on any level.

Miami was the choice as a natural progression from London?

We were asked to work on a hotel that turned into a club

That was Ronnie Wood's club?

Right, it was to be a 6 month job, and today I think that I really believed it to be a 6 month job, I was ridiculous. It took 2-3 years and we loved it here so much we stayed. It was so sort of decaying and shabby and full of creative people. Really lovely like a village.

The Marlin hotel, I have heard stories about that one such as that Aerosmith albums were written there.

Of course I was very lucky as all of these rock and roll characters gravitate together. I met Chris Blackwell because I was doing clothes for a video for one of his bands. His art director rang up and said would you like to do a hotel and I said yes I would love to. Chris bought 11 hotels on the sea front and we designed one after the other.

Do you have a favourite?

The Marlin.

The name Biba, it is your sister's name ..

Yes, it is an abbreviation of a Slovenian name Bieruta. We were doing press and someone in advertising was asking for a name. We did a dress for one of the papers and they said you have to give it a name and we had to sit there, it is almost like when you have a baby. Biba is feminine, and pretty negative, it means nothing, in England they would not have associated it with anything, it was a foreign name.

Now, you always wear black is that ...

Laziness!

I was interested in that because of your use of colour.

That is why you can't be sitting there in another colour that would be distracting. I've tried and had to rush back and change.