Welcome to Big Biba Inside the Most Beautiful Store in the World

"Unseen illustrations show the genius of Biba’s Barbara Hulanicki – in pictures…“Biba made fashion democratic – their clothes were inexpensive, of good quality and highly cherished,” says Martin Pel, curator of a new exhibition about the store founded by Barbara Hulanicki in 1963."
"These stories and more are all explored in “Welcome to Big Biba,” Thomas’s gold-fronted monograph of the venture republished this month by ACC Art Books to celebrate the brand’s 60th anniversary. “This book is a testament to creative freedom,” writes the now 87-year-old Hulanicki in the foreword, reflecting on her legacy. “You can do it all as long as you learn to wear a suit. Of course, your secret will be that the suit is lined in gold lamé.”"
"This reissued book is a photographic love letter to its dark, decadent glamour."
"Have you ever changed outfits in front of a mirror that mimics ancient Egypt, surrounded by cascades of leopard print? Or bought a pot of yoghurt that ‘moos’ as you pick it from the shelf? How about stopping for tea on a rooftop that is home to a flock of flamingos, or else wiled away the hours trying on cosmetics, amid mirrored cabinetry? While this might sound like some form of retail fever-dream, it was a reality for those lucky enough to visit the shop Big Biba in the early 1970s."
"Six decades on however, Biba’s legacy outlasts its footprint on the high street."
"Those responsible for transforming the store into the paradise it came to be were designers Steven Thomas and Tim Whitmore."
"Welcome to Big Biba, a book which has been reprinted to coincide with the exhibition, notes that prior to the creation of the store “Biba had been in the business of fantasy, transforming every Eliza Doolittle who crossed its threshold into a gorgeous, vampish queen of the night. Now it sought to build a stage that would be worthy of the high street stars it had created.”"
"In its heyday Biba was the second most popular tourist attraction in the capital after the Tower of London… Now all we have is this book of marabou-fringed nostalgia."