Interior designer Steven Thomas described the state of British retail in 2024 as “My God, it’s dull.” Thomas, who was responsible for designing the iconic 1970s London fashion boutique Big Biba, is no stranger to engineering spectacle. Big Biba is a bold 20,000 square foot destination designed by fashion illustrator Barbara Hulanicki and her former husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon, a marketing expert. The level of attention put into its conception is often only found in high-end concept stores. Established in September 1973, it was the last and fourth location of the renowned brand at the time.
The seven-story Art Deco store on Kensington High Street in London had a roof garden with actual flamingos and penguins, an Andy Warhol-inspired soup stand, and the much-lauded “Rainbow Room,” a celebrity hangout. In an interview with CNN, Thomas noted that “it didn’t take long for the glitterati to latch on; it was very much a place to be seen dining.” This was due to the Rainbow Room’s appearance. Originally created by architect Marcel Hennequet in 1933, the dining room gained its name from its multicolored roof (the rest of the space was decorated with fake plants and white tablecloths). Hennequet proposed that it “became a venue of choice.” “Bryan Ferry, Mick Jagger, and David Bowie all stopped by.”
Recalling the unofficial booker, Thomas went on, “Fitz employed the son of a friend who had an extraordinary knack of picking people up, like Ian Dury and the Blockheads.” Another victory for him was getting the New York Dolls to play when they came over. They stole every piece of clothing for women while doing a vandalism tour of the first level. “Welcome to Big Biba,” Thomas’s gold-fronted monograph on the endeavor, explores all of these stories and more and was released this month by ACC Art Books in honor of the brand’s 60th anniversary. Looking back on her legacy, the now 87-year-old Hulanicki writes in the foreword, “This book is a testament to creative freedom.” “If you can learn how to wear a suit, you can do everything.”
Naturally, the fact that the suit is lined with gold lamé will be your secret. Hulanicki and Fitz-Simon launched “Biba’s Postal Boutique,” a mail-order business offering limited edition products, in May 1964, marking the start of the Biba saga. The project paved the way for “those of us living in provincial places where we felt we were dying of drabness,” according to singer Annie Lennox. With their earthy or muted colors like olive, rust, and “bruised purple,” inspired by decadent styles from bygone eras (albeit with drastically shortened hemlines), Biba’s products definitely struck a chord with young female shoppers, and the brand rode the wave of what Thomas described as “the first burst of teenage energy and finance availability.”
