Beyond Biba

January 21, 2011

Seriously all I want to do right now is watch movies and tv-series as the winter months are totally wearing me down, as usual. So I was very happy when my copy of Beyond Biba arrived in the mailbox earlier this week. I just love Biba and the mastermind behind this iconic, but somewhat short lived British brand, Barbara Hulancki. Decades before Anthropologie and the likes, Biba managed to build a lifestyle brand including everything from clothes to furniture to food, with heavily nostalgic influences. When Biba closed the London flagship store in 1975, Barbara Hulancki and her husband moved on and she then became one of the key player in the Miami makeover that happened in the 80’s, where she used her designs skill to revitalize many art deco hotels.

This documentary covers it all. Most books and articles about Barbara Hulancki just talk about her clothes and the Biba years, but she has lived a very fascinating life both before and after Biba. So I really appreciate the directors ambition to cover it all. Unfortunately the 58 min format is a bit short, so if you are a total Biba fan you might be a bit disappointed that this part of the story is not very long. However the movie is called Beyond Biba after all, and the rest of her work is also really fascinating – she is clearly a renaissance women with many many talents. And I love watching persons like her, that are 70+ and still very vital and curious, she feels like she hasn’t aged at all. Funnily her dress style is very similar to Karl Lagerfeld. Another senior citizen that has somewhat frozen his age.

So I really recommend this movie. And while I’m usually not impressed by fancy packaging, the Beyond Biba DVD is really beautifully designed and you even get some of Barbara’s drawings printed on glossy thick paper. Score!