Biba - Stores and Mail Order Services

Stores and Mail Order Services

The first store, in Abingdon Road in Kensington, was opened in September 1964.

Hulanicki’s first encounter with her new customers was at 10 o’clock on the Saturday morning it opened; "...the curtains were drawn across the window… the shop was packed with girls trying on the same brown pinstripe dress in concentrated silence. Not one asked if there were any other styles or sizes," Hulanicki remarked.

The brown pinstripe dresses were being stored in the shop because Hulanicki’s apartment was overflowing with boxes of clothes for their mail order service. Fitz-Simon dropped Hulanicki at the shop and went to pick up more dresses, Hulanicki went to the bathroom and when she came back the shop was packed. "The louder the music played the faster the girls moved and more people appeared in the shop. I had sold every dress by 11." After the last dress had been sold, people were still lining up inside waiting for the next delivery.

The shops' main appeal was that an average girl in London could, for less than 10% of her weekly earnings, share the look of popular icons of the time such as Cathy McGowan, the 'Queen of The Mods' and presenter of Ready, Steady, Go, a popular TV music show. What was seen on TV on Friday night could now be bought on Saturday and worn that night. It made you feel special. As the Biba style (tight cut skinny sleeves, earthy colours) and logo became more and more recognisable, the more and more people wanted to be seen in it.

The second store in Kensington Church Street opened in 1965 and series of a mail-order catalogues followed in 1968, which allowed customers to buy Biba style without having to come to London.

The next move, in 1969, was to Kensington High Street, into a store which previously sold carpet. Again, it was unique; a mix of Art Nouveau decor and Rock and Roll decadence. On May 1, 1971, a bomb was set off inside the store by The Angry Brigade.