trend: the iconic melting pot of biba

Sniffing the wind for something new, trend-spotter Kristin Palla noticed a rekindled interest in Biba, a lifestyle that has threatened a return for some time now. Maybe this time it’s here to stay?

The Hippie and Mod fashion movements of the 1960’s overlapped one another time-wise, but their respective followers defined different lifestyles, goals, and dogma. You were Hippie or you were Mod in the same way someone today is viewed as a Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal. Now style isn’t nearly as succinct, nor orderly. It’s safe to say that fewer individuals today envision themselves fitting into a single category, and thus they are less inclined to conform to style “boundaries”.

A case point to study; while shooting her cinematic homage to Mod darling Edie Sedgwick, Sienna Miller denounced all things Boho in US Vogue’s cover feature. Meanwhile her tabloid-gracing contemporaries – and Jane Doe’s on the street – are pairing their tooled leather and layers with the mainstays of Mod fashion instead of ditching them altogether. For instance, matte black stockings and leggings are finding their way beneath absolutely everything, from micro-A lines, shorts, and cropped pants to beaded satin cocktail gowns. Pucci, Missoni and a crazy variety of boldly printed knock-off scarves are paired with slouchy leather boots and short vests. Ray Ban’s vintage Wayfarer sunglasses are worn with embroidered peasant-like tops and leather belts.

Victoria Herbert, writer for the avant-garde art & fashion publication Tank, offers up another facet on all this fusion: “Globalization has a lot to do with it. Major cities are extremely cosmopolitan…[In terms of] style, I think we’re all nostalgic and the end of a century/start of a new one historically always sees an orgy of the decades that came before.” Thus, it’s not just formerly separatist looks from the 1960’s that are being mixed together, but also elements of the Roaring 20’s, the 1930’s, and the 1970’s, as well as anything that harkens back to old-world Hollywood. Drop waists, high-waists, structured jackets, beading, embroidery, draping. And those ubiquitous black stockings and scarves especially seem to be part of the reason: they conjure up the latter eras all at once, pulling them together.

On the runway, ready-to-wear designers are attempting to instill more robust change. In Paris Balenciaga showcased blatantly Mod capped sleeves, boxy-cut jackets, and the new de rigueur black tights for Fall 2006. Think 1960’s Brit constable on a cold windy day, except with legs up to there and minus the mustache. Others, such as Chloé, exhibited a 1930’s sobriety, with a palate reminiscent of the Great Depression.

Even still, a distinct harmony seems to be emerging on the runway, and from a place that has remained silent the past thirty years (drum roll please): the British design house, Biba. From 1964 until 1975, it was a fashion juggernaut that not only overhauled current styles, but fashion’s focus. Instead of catering to thirty and forty-year old females with money, they catered to teens and twenty-year olds who had barely any—but looked better in the clothes. They were the H&M of their day, so to speak, bringing affordable high fashion to the masses. And such originality attracted the likes of the not-so-middle-class: Mick and Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and David and Angie Bowie. Biba’s creator, Barbara Hulanicki, had a clear-cut stance for such marketing, based on her beauty ideal. This was, in her own words, “Postwar babies who had been deprived of nourishing protein in childhood and grew up into beautiful skinny people.” (Hilarious now maybe, but forthright.) At any rate, budding fashionistas were excited. And so were their mothers. Biba became the ultimate wearable, and easily attainable, symbol of youth.

True, their first run was short and sweet; arguments about creative direction, bolstered by an unwillingness to adapt to changing views of fashion and beauty, brought sudden demise. But today Biba is very much back, with its trailblazing spirit intact.

The rebirth of this legend brings a plethora of 60’s, early 70’s, and 1930’s Hollywood inspirations, seamlessly combined. And the end product? Art Nouveau Rock-n’ Roll. On their website, the design house notes how the inspirational patterns and colors from its iconic past are still captured, but with a more luxe and completely modern twist in cut and fabric choices.

Driving home their inevitable once-again popularity, British Vogue recently observed Kate Moss putting in a hefty Biba order at Naihala Lasharie’s Notting Hill showroom. Not a bad way to kick-start the rekindling of a fashion bellwether.

Biba definitely seems to have the right grit, and a heritage that can’t be denied. Now, if only political cliques came together as easily as the fashion ones…