Home » Interviews » Designer Barbara Hulanicki — The Queen of Biba

Designer Barbara Hulanicki — The Queen of Biba

Introduction to Barbara Hulanicki. 3:45 min. Interview: Raymond Elman & Adrienne Bon Haes. Videography: Lee Skye. Recorded 6/17/2023, Miami Beach.

BARBARA HULANICKI OBE (b. 1936) is a fashion designer best known as the founder of Biba.

Hulanicki was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents. Her father, Witold Hulanicki, was the Polish Counsel General to the Middle East, stationed in Jerusalem. He was assassinated by the Stern Gang in Jerusalem in 1948, and the family fled to Brighton, England. In 1955, while studying at the Brighton School of Art, Hulanicki won an Evening Standard competition for beachwear design. 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 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, and Bridgette Bardot. In the shop, a young clientele bought affordable mini-skirts, floppy felt hats, feather boas, velvet trouser suits and unisex tee-shirts dyed in rich, muted colors. Anna Wintour started in fashion at age 15 as a Biba employee.

After the shop’s 1975 closure, Hulanicki moved to Brazil, where she opened several other stores. She kept designing for labels such as Fiorucci and Cacharel and from 1980 to 1992 designed a line of children’s wear, Minirock, licensed to the Japanese market. In 1987 she moved to Miami Beach, Florida, where she opened an interior design business, designing hotels for Chris Blackwell in Jamaica and the Bahamas, and reimagining several Art Deco hotels in Miami Beach, including a bar for Ronnie Woods of The Rolling Stones.

In 2021, Hulanicki started a new venture with virtual reality company, BrandLab360, to create a new label titled ‘Hula’. The new brand will be sold exclusively to trade buyers on BrandLab 360’s digital showroom and was created after Hulanicki met with the platform’s founders in Miami Beach, where she has lived for 30+ years.

Hulanicki was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to the fashion industry.

The videos below, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 1:15 min.

Where did you grow up, and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES: 2:56 min.

Why were you living in Palestine before World War II?

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED: 1:49 min.

Your father was assassinated in Palestine by the notorious Stern Gang, who were manipulated into action by the Russians, because your father was anti-Communist, and you had to escape to London when you were 12.

SERENDIPITY: 2:07 min.