Dressed, the history of fashion is a production of iHeart video.

With over 7 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common.

Every day, we all get dressed.

Welcome to Dressed, the history of fashion, a podcast which explores the who, what, when, of why we wear.

We are fashion historians and your hosts, Cassidy Zachary, and April Callahan.

Dressed listeners, today Cass and I are absolutely thrilled to be joined by one of fashion's living legends, the one, the only Barbara Hula Nikki,

and Barbara and fashion historian Martin Pell, who is the curator of fashion and text styles at the Brighton Museum in the UK, are going to join us to discuss all things Biba.

And if you aren't familiar with the brand Biba, trust me, you are in for a treat because it is literally every cool kids dream.

Definitely every cool kids dream, then and now, honestly, because Biba rose to meteoric success in 1963 and burned bright as a star on the UK driven fashion scene until 1975.

And the brand's sudden and curious demise was in no way due to lack of demand.

Biba quite literally had the rug pulled out from beneath it, and this is something we of course will illuminate further at the end of the episode.

But perhaps April a little more discussion of the Biba lifestyle is in order before we speak to the brand's founder.

So I'm curious, April, when you think of Biba, what comes to mind?

Oh, I mean, I don't even know where to start because it's so me it is so my aesthetic through and through.

I would describe it as sexy, cool, maybe a little bit mysterious, definitely very unique.

There's also some cinematic qualities to the brand and their advertising and just how they portrayed the entire thing.

You know, it's kind of like at the time it was the epitome of in the no chic.

It was so much more than a clothing brand because in the matter of 12 years or so, Biba grew to become this sort of lifestyle that wasn't just clothing.

They also had a wildly successful cosmetic line, which of course put to work in the Biba beauty parlor, which Biba beauty parlor take me there immediately.

I want to go transport me back exactly.

And you know, after getting pampered at the beauty parlor, you could literally spend the entire rest of your day at Biba.

You could have lunch at their restaurant.

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