Martin PelThe Biba Years 1963-1975

As a former 'Biba girl', now a happy retiree, this book took me on a delightful trip down memory lane. The full Biba story and stunning photos. It reminded me how lucky I am to have been young in the 60s and 70s. It was a magical time of lovely clothes, great music and clubbing. I can't go back there but the memories are still fresh. This book sits on my coffee table and I often browse the photos and smile to myself 😊

Loved itAnd sits on my coffee table so others can see it

Bought as a Christmas present so have not unwrapped the polythene shrink wrap film.Looks a good quality production.

This is by far the definitive book on biba I have almost everything that has been published on this wonderful creative lady who really deserves more credit of how she changed the way young people dressed as well as the way we all shopped, we owe her such a lot. Personally I find her more innovative than many or her contemporaries.

Baba is from my teen years . Enjoyed reading it

I nearly brought this book in London for £35 but saw it on here for this great price and saved myself so much money.It’s perfect and great for anyone interested in Biba!

If you are into fashion particularly vintage fashion then you will enjoy

I love everything about this book. A fabulous trip down memory lane back to the glorious 70s the fashion the life and of course fabulous Biba. For all Biba fans out there this book is a must-have purchase. Beautifully bound each page a delight. Item arrived quickly and was well packaged.

Wonderful book depicting a specific era in London - where I lived and shopped during that era. Love it!

I've almost finished reading it and I enjoyed it from the beginning. It is very interesting. It is the book that came out for the Brighton exhibition. So it contains many photos of outfits , but it also tells you thestory of the 4 shops with many details.

I love this book!💜💜💜

As expected, this is the most complete Biba compilation to date. "The Biba Years" meticulously traces Barbara's history. She was born in Poland in l936. The family, fleeing the Nazis, emigrated to Palestine in 1938. We learn the circumstances that brought her widowed mother and three daughters to Brighton to live with a half sister. Biba was not Barbara's nickname. That belonged to the youngest girl, named Biruta. Art school in Brighton, a move to London, a career as a fashion illustrator, a meeting with her future husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon, the advent of a small mail-order business ("Biba's Postal Boutique"), a store, another store, a bigger store yet, international success, a gigantic store, an implosion, picking up the pieces. As in most real life, you can't make these things up. Even if Biba had never touched many of us, it would still make a compelling story.Why the enduring fascination with Biba?Biba as a "thing" was the sum of many parts:* Timing (the emergence of youth culture in the '60s)* Inspiration from the past (the first time the thirties and forties were mined for their appeal)* Head to toe vision (by one designer)* Limited availability (not many stores, few mail-order offerings)* Affordability (without any loss of cache)You couldn't just add a piece of Biba to your outfit, it required a commitment. When you wore Biba you had to attempt the total look. The colorways were unique, as were the fits. She uses the term "matchy-matchy" unapologetically. In these days of mix-and-match being modern, it surprised me to learn that Barbara believed in matching everything-- hats, bags, shoes, the whole shebang.Does Biba still resonate? When you look at pictures of the clothes photographed on standard mannequins and precisely lit, it may be hard to see what the fuss was about. There are some pieces I would indeed die for today, but others are simplistic and seem familiar. Familiar perhaps because we've seen those silhouettes over and over since the '60s. Revolutionary then = old-hat now?It was a grand idea that failed. What went wrong? Are there lessons to be learned? Don't get too big? Don't sell out to corporate interests? Never give up? Barbara has had an amazing life since, full of successful projects that have taken her talents to new directions. Not in this book, but she is quoted as saying, "Now whenever I finish something I take some photographs and say 'goodbye'. When you lose everything, you realize that the only thing you have is what's in your head."For anyone who lived it, wishes they had, is a lover of the marketplace, a business major, fledging designer, fashionista or student of human nature-- "The Biba Years" is a fascinating read.

Tolle Bilder - schöne Kleider aus diversen Jahren - und viel Hintergrundinformation. Ein lesens - und sehenswertes buch. Danke .