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

Devoted entirely to Big Biba, documenting the transformation of the original Derry & Toms building into the "Superstore Boutique" The definitive record of a moment in British shopping history that will probably never be repeated and certainly never forgotten Illustrated with 150 superlative color photographs, many of them published here for the first time Publication coincides with the launch of a new Biba label on the catwalks of the Autumn fashion shows Thirty years after it closed its doors in September 1975, Biba still remains one of the most evocative names in British fashion and retail along with its creator Barbara Hulanicki. Biba?s final incarnation as a seven-story department store in Kensington High Street lasted just two years before it fell victim to recession, but the myth of ?the most beautiful store in London? continues to enchant both its former habitués and those who came to it too late. Welcome to Big Biba is the first book devoted entirely to the wonders of that late flowering. Starting with a brief illustrated chronology of the Biba story between 1964-1973, this beautiful book explores the original Derry & Toms building in pictorial material from the 1930s and 50s. Its transformation into Big Biba is illustrated floor-by-floor in around 150 color photographs, most of them published here for the first time, along with products and graphics created for each of the various departments from food to fashion, and from bathrooms to the legendary Rainbow Room. The glamour, humor and fantasy, the audacious style that could turn a shop girl into a Hollywood star, are fully evoked in this uniquely styled volume.Read More