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'Biba Creator Barbara Hulanicki first sold her designs through a small mail-order business featured in the fashion columns of daily newspapers. In 1964 she opened the first BIBA shop on Abingdon Road in Kensington, West London, with her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon. Inspired by the Art Deco and Art Nouveau movements, along with 1930s Hollywood Glamour, BIBA quickly became famous for its decadent atmosphere and lavish decor. Its meteoric rise was aided by celebrity endorsement from the likes of Twiggy, Marrianne Faithfull and Cathy McGowan, and they would regularly sell out of new styles in a matter of hours. BIBA, unlike many hip boutiques of the time, catered to the average girl, providing glamor and rock and roll decadence at affordable prices.
A second shop opened in 1965, followed by a business savvy mail-order catalog allowing teenagers across the UK to get the BIBA look without visiting London. In 1969 BIBA moved to Kensington High Street and continued to grow. In 1974 the store made an audacious move to a seven-storey Art Deco era department store building, the first department store to open up in post-WWII Britain!
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The truly fabulous Art Deco 'Rainbow Room' above staged legendary performances from 'The New York Dolls' amongst others.
All good things must come to an end, and Big BIBA was no exception. A huge organizational and financial responsibility and burden, it quickly became too much for the entrepreneurial couple, and as a result they sold a 75% share of BIBA to UK high street retailers Dorothy Perkins and Dennis Day. They hoped that this would mean the brand and store would be properly financed, but after creative control disputes Hulanicki left the company. Without the driving force and soul of the company, Big BIBA closed its doors in 1976, a sad end for a shop that was like no other before or since. Today, the legend of 'The most beautiful store in the world' continues to enchant both its former habitues, and those who came to it too late.'
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