Barbara Hulanicki (born 1936) is a Warsaw-born fashion designer, known for being the founder of the iconic clothes store Biba.
Born in Warsaw, to Polish parents, after studying at Brighton Art College, Hulanicki won a London Evening Standard competition for beachwear in 1955. She began her career in fashion as a freelance fashion illustrator, working for various magazines, including Vogue, Tatler and Women's Wear Daily.
Hulanicki sold her first designs through a small mail-order business, featured in the fashion columns of newspapers such as the Daily Mirror. In 1964 she opened her Biba shop in Kensington, with the help of her late husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon. The shop soon became famous for its stylishly decadent atmosphere and lavish decor inspired 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, Marianne Faithfull and Cathy McGowan, presenter of Ready Steady Go!, among the regulars. In the shop affordable mini-skirts, floppy felt hats, feather boas, velvet trouser suits and uni-sex T-shirts dyed in rich, muted colors were eagerly snapped up by a young clientele. Anna Wintour got her start in fashion as a Biba employee. Biba finally closed its doors in 1976.
After the closure of Biba, Hulanicki continued to work in the fashion industry, designing for such fashion designers as Fiorucci and Cacharel and for twelve years, from 1980 to 1992, designed a successful line of children's wear, Minirock, licensed to the Japanese market.
She presently resides in Miami, Florida where she has a successful interior design business, designing hotels for Chris Blackwell in Jamaica and the Bahamas. She recently designed wallpaper for the Habitat store chain in Europe and is launching a fashion and home range in India. She has also designed wallpaper for the wallcovering company Graham & Brown [4] featuring her widely recognized art nouveau style.
British retailer Topshop opened a New York store in April 2009 and, late the same month, launched a highly anticipated collection featuring Hulanicki's designs available both instores and online. Hulanicki was approached by Topshop buyers at an exhibition of her illustrations in a London gallery which resulted in a final collection featuring billowing chiffon dresses and blouses reminiscent of the original Biba style. Alongside these were several highly covetable jersey pieces printed with Barbara's original illustrations, bikinis and a cropped suede jacket. The collection has been extremely successful for Topshop with rails stripped within minutes. An autumn/winter collection is currently in production expected to be released by the end of the year. Released the same month was a handbag she designed for the Italian label Coccinelle, also featuring her art nouveau style, which was favourably reviewed by the website Handbag.
Hulanicki is quoted as having said about the design scene in 2009, "There is very little difference today as opposed to the ‘70s, although, there is much more choice now. Both periods share the same enthusiasm, if you press the right buttons."