After neglecting my blog for the entire Christmas period, I am back and ready to share my latest fashion tips and experiences with all of you.

The BIBA Exhibition - My Trip to Brighton

As many of you will already know, BIBA was a major clothing store of the 1960s and 1970s that revolutionised the state of the fashion industry.   Barbara Hulanicki made her fashion easily accessible  affordable and mass produced these garments but introduced new shapes that enhanced the body shape that was idealised at the period.  It was the time when females were idealising the Twiggy look.  Females wanted to be flat chested and very small so these garments clung to the body in a uncomfortable but flattering manner.  Quite shockingly Twiggy had to have her clothes taken in so that they fitted her, a sure rarity for the BIBA clothing range.  

(Left: Painting encompassing Barbara's 

preliminary designs)

BIBA helped to push the cheap and mass produced fashion we witness in high street stores like Topshop.  Although the BIBA period of Barbara's career was a shadowy patch that she wanted to push to the back of her memory, when Brighton curators and museum owners suggested the idea of exhibiting her clothing she was soon convinced to do so.  A collection of clothing was collected, the best selected by the designer herself, to display in the museum.  A combination of her personal life, her initial inspiration and her drawings were displayed in the museum and no one could have guessed how well the exhibition would work. 

The exhibition has a simplistic element to it, but also encompasses the style of the period. It displays the garments in an array of styles, on mannequins and also on 'hangers with heads'.