An exhibition about one of many largest manufacturers of the Sixties and 70s style world opens with a easy costume produced from the kind of material that used to adorn low cost cafe tables. However that costume was to begin the revolution that turned Biba from a small mail-order catalogue into the occupiers of an enormous division retailer that, at one level, was one among London’s largest vacationer sights.
The Biba exhibition at Bermondsey’s Style and Textile Museum tries to know what made Biba so fascinating to the younger individuals who clamoured for his or her garments and the approach to life they hinted at.
As a 50s-something man, it’s nearly a pleasure to be in an exhibition the place I’m on the youthful finish of the customer profile, because the area is stuffed with girls of a sure age who actually danced away their youthful nights in Biba attire.
One of many causes the achingly modern model was so widespread was its affordability.
As one of many show boards explains, the problem of shopping for giant portions of materials resulted in very quick runs of designs, in order that they always modified their shows whereas preserving costs low sufficient for the aspiring younger particular person to afford to choose one thing up on a go to.
Whereas the agency made its first and later success as a mail order agency, it’s in all probability most well-known for the Kensington Excessive Road emporium, the place the shop was extra of an expertise, harking again a bit to the glory days of the division retailer when house owners laid on grand experiences to lure in prospects.
The exhibition begins with what made Biba well-known: the garments – a style present of types filling the museum’s floor ground displaying off the completely different collections through the years – from the little black costume to the very vibrant and achingly Sixties style materials.
In a while, the exhibition seems at the remainder of Biba — the emporium that offered all the things you could possibly think about to stay the full Biba life-style. Though I’d wish to suppose that right this moment, we’d frown on retailers promoting tins of shark fin, hen’s nest or actual turtle soup.
In actual fact, their cosmetics vary generated one of the best gross sales and outlived the remainder of the corporate’s closure. In that manner, Biba was an early proponent of the trendy style empire — utilizing style to get the headlines however promoting fragrances to pay the payments.
The exhibition manages although to elicit a few of the attract of a Nineteen Seventies agency that one way or the other seemed Nineteen Thirties in its branding, even when the merchandise they offered had been bang updated. A particuarly good contact is the doorway hall into the exhibition, lined with replicas of Biba’s 1973 Girl Lamps — and you’ll see an unique within the exhibition as effectively.
As an exhibition, it’s each a show of the garments they offered, but additionally a reminder of a time when one retailer in London exemplified what the long run was making an attempt to be.
The exhibition, The Biba Story, 1964-1975 is on the Style and Textile Museum till eighth September 2024. It’s strongly really helpful that you simply e book tickets prematurely as they’re typically offered out by the point you flip up on the door.
The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday – closed on Sunday (besides the final day) and Monday.
This text was revealed on ianVisits
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