Barbara Hulanicki

Barbara Hulanicki OBE (b. 1936) is a fashion designer, born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents and best known as the founder of iconic clothes store Biba.

Her father, Witold Hulanicki, was assassinated by the Stern Gang in Jerusalem in 1948, and the family moved to Brighton, England. While studying from 1954 to 1956 at the Brighton School of Art, now the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts, Hulanicki won a London Evening Standard-newspaper competition in 1955 for beachwear. She began her career in fashion as a freelance fashion illustrator for various magazines, including Vogue, Tatler and Women's Wear Daily.

Hulanicki sold her first designs through a small mail-order business that was featured in the fashion columns of newspapers such as the London Daily Mirror.

In 1964, she opened her Biba shop in the Kensington district of London with the help of her late husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon. The shop soon became known for its stylishly decadent atmosphere and lavish decor inspired by Art Nouveau and Art Deco. It became a hangout for artists, film stars and rock musicians, including Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Marianne Faithfull and Cathy McGowan, presenter of British pop/rock TV programme Ready Steady Go!. In the shop, a young clientele bought affordable mini-skirts, floppy felt hats, feather boas, velvet trouser suits and unisex T-shirts dyed in rich, muted colors. Incidentally, Anna Wintour started in fashion as a Biba employee.

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