Barbara Hulanicki: Women Have Such Boring Wardrobes

Founder of Biba says that women nowadays are slaves to trends, and are "too concerned with what's fashionable" and therefore it becoming dull and samey. The 77 year old designer acknowledges that perhaps the reason for this is that high street shops stock such similar styles that it's difficult to have an individual look.

Barbara Hulanicki Illustrations

(photos found online)

(own photographs from Biba exhibition)

As I previously mentioned in my review of the Biba exhibition, I have fallen in love with Barbara Hulanicki's illustrations! They are certainly unique and they have the exact stylisation that I am always attracted to - I love the dolly aesthetic with exaggerated eyes and tiny mouths. The lines are very fluid and her illustrations are primarily line drawings with no colour. Her illustrations don't differ too much from my own in the past as I like this approach to drawing however I took it upon myself to recreate them in her style, using different fashion photographs as references, however keeping them quite contemporary as to not completely replicate the 60s-70s look. I did this using black watercolour and a fine brush and occasionally a thicker brush for the heavier lines, trying to keep them as free-flowing as possible and not beginning with any pencil drawings so that they were not too contrived.

Biba & Beyond

On Friday I had the chance to visit the Biba & Beyond exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. Founder of the Biba brand Barbara Hulanicki changed the world of high street shopping in the 60s and 70s and since walking out on the brand after it's corporate takeover she's still as successful. The exhibition is full of the fashion, the lifestyle and the modern-day equivalents of Biba. 

At just £4 entry for the exhibition I was very impressed with the wide range of memorabilia that it showcased, from the clothes itself, original illustrations, make-up and other products, videos and even clothes to try on for yourself! The space itself was very easy to walk around in and to view everything up close unlike many exhibition where you are forced to distance yourself and barely get a real idea of what you're looking at. It all felt very personal with many interviews with Barbara herself scattered around and the fact you could try on a few pieces really helped to interact with it all. There was such a wide range of people visiting the exhibition from women who had worn and shopped at Biba in it's height and to young girls inspired by this style. 

My personal favourite part of the exhibition was by far the illustrations. Having looked at her illustrations before to inspire a photoshoot, it was wonderful to see them up close. I absolutely adore the "dolly" aesthetic of them and they're timeless, they perfectly illustrate the Biba customers such as Twiggy. I also loved the little make-up tutorial video of how to do the "dolly" look - definitely something I will be trying out for myself sometime soon! I also couldn't help but love the platform shoes, I felt that many of the fashion on display could easily be worn today and not look dated.

Below are my pictures from the exhibition of things that caught my eye.

Becky

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