Once upon a time, over 60 years ago, the British and their fuddy-duddy style were considered the worst-dressed people in Europe. Then came three strong female fashion perspectives that reigned supreme in the land of the Queen: Mary Quant with her clean-cut ‘Mod’ approach, rock ‘n roller Biba (aka Barbara Hulanicki), who is now regarded as the creator of the first fast-fashion lifestyle brand, predating today’s retail norm of one brand offering affordable fashion, multi-level shopping with men’s and women’s fashion, music, mood, lingerie, accessories, and make-up. The Biba brand burned out spectacularly in the mid-1970s due to a corporate takeover, by then Vivienne Westwood’s punk had taken over the runway.
After Biba, British style was never the same. “She gave us high street, high fashion,” gushes a British vintage Biba collector on camera in the streaming documentary Beyond Biba. “We didn’t have it before.”
Barbara Biba, now 88, has called Miami home since the 1980s, when one of The Rolling Stones hired her to design the interior of his beach bar. At the time, Island Records’ Chris Blackwell (the man who signed Bob Marley and countless other pre-electronic music icons) owned several art deco hotels in South Beach. Recognizing Barbara’s Midas touch, Blackwell enlisted her to redesign and revamp both the exteriors and interiors of his Miami hotels, most famously the Marlin Hotel, which included a recording studio. After 15 years of collaboration, the two legends remain close friends, with Blackwell attending the recent Mayor of Miami’s ‘Keys to the City’ event in Barbara’s honour at The Betsy Hotel in South Beach.
— The Gingham Keyhole dress with scarf that started Biba
Barbara, also an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), began humbly and remained grounded. Her success as a fashion innovator in the 1960s began with a mail-order gingham dress and headscarf that sold out en masse after she placed an ad in the papers. Soon after, Biba was born in a flurry of feathers, leopard print, velvet and leather, featuring seven stories including the rainbow room – an entire floor for lounging in – and one where you could, on any given day, find icons like Marianne Faithful, Twiggy or any member of The Rolling Stones shopping, napping or just hanging out, often playing vinyl records musicians dropped in with samples of, that you could also buy. In the dressing rooms, Mick Jagger dressed in boys’ or girls’ Biba jackets and David Bowie shopped for make-up during his Glam Rock era.
The editor of The Evening Standard and even Vogue’s Anna Wintour worked as shop girls, selling lipstick and black nail polish, marking the first time affordable fashion was introduced, all bearing the Biba brand name.
Fast forward to 2025, and going full circle, with leopard print once again a la mode and the current art deco revival, needless to say, the legendary lifestyle label’s impact made it all the way to Southern Africa, a former colony. Kindred spirit, Lesley Goldwasser, now the owner of The Betsy Hotel in Miami’s Art Deco District never forgot a trip to Biba as part of a family London tour. Only eight years old at the time in 1969, to this day she remembers exactly what she bought: pink and gold velvet bell bottoms. The East Coast-based Goldwasser is now actively involved in celebrating Barbara’s legacy by curating exhibitions of her photography and fashion illustrations at the hotel (considered Miami’s cultural hub) and was astonished to discover the fashion legend lives across the road.
“You were the one that brought Barbara to The Betsy when we celebrated your Mom’s art and book release. At the time I did not know her story,’ wrote Deborah Briggs, also an owner of The Betsy Hotel. Americans not knowing her story is precisely how Barbara hid out “across the pond” for so long all the while with a stream of British media, film-makers, agents and museum curators visiting to kiss the ring (in this case, a large geometric black one).
A serendipitous encounter in 2013 had me, a South African American and author of vintage pin-up photography books, seated next to Barbara Biba at a luncheon in Miami themed ‘Deco Riviera’. Invited to dress in fabulous 1950s and 1960s wear in support of a homeless shelter, the luncheon main event featured a fashion show styled by vintage fashion experts. As models cat walked through a veritable history of the 1950s and 60s between courses and loud chuckles, Barbara narrated her own iconoclastic and often outrageous takes on the fashions (and some overwrought frocks) that defined the time. While I give thanks to the Tiki gods for that day, it wasn’t by chance but by the grace of Miami’s own event goddess, Tara Solomon, who played matchmaker. Both of us, with what Americans call ‘cute accents’ – an English mix – and proudly out of place in the mainstream, even at a dress-up. Barbara, in her signature pointy-shouldered black jacket, skinny pants (never a dress), and always in black, accessorized with geometric black rock ‘n roll rings and black nail polish.
Never one to dwell on the past and always innovative, this year Miami Beach launches a grant programme to revive its historic Art Deco hotels in collaboration with Barbara, promising bold pastel-themed exterior makeovers that reflect the city’s unique Art Deco style.
