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‘My mum was horrified’: how Biba’s store changed my teenage years


Barbara Hulanicki brought chic clothes to the masses in the 60s. Now those golden Georgy Girl years are to be celebrated in a new exhibition

The title song, sung by the Australian group the Seekers, had an upbeat beginning: “Hey there, Georgy Girl, swinging down the street so fancy-free.” Then it got a touch darker. Hopefully, it will capture the clothes and range of products, from baked beans in the trademark Biba art deco colours of black and gold to “sludgy” makeup – launched at a time when lipsticks came in 25 shades of pink – and all the excesses of glam rock, beloved by Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. In May 1964, Felicity Green, a doyen of Fleet Street, had run a fashion feature in the Daily Mirror in which a pink gingham mini shift with a matching head scarf, made by Biba, was offered for 25 shillings.

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